Rumours emerged this week that Louis Van Gaal is looking to sell Danny Welbeck, and Arsenal along with a whole host of other clubs have been linked with his signature.
Currently in the striker position we have Olivier Giroud, Yaya Sanogo and Joel Campbell with Alexis Sanchez also able to operate in this role. This isn’t exactly good depth and the forward line lacks enough threat and punch to win a premier league title as it stands. Gary Lineker said in the week that any striker playing in front of the creative midfielders we have should be scoring 25 goals, and quite frankly with the strikers we have I can’t see this happening.
A world-class striker is what every Arsenal fan wants, however a player of this calibre isn’t really available at the moment, and were Wenger to sign a forward it probably won’t be a marquee one. Welbeck has come in for a lot of stick in the past, but personally I like him very much. He has 28 caps for England, is versatile, being able to play anywhere across the forward line and also has pace and power, something Arsenal have lacked up top for a while. Welbeck makes runs in behind the defence and with his pace would strike up a good partnership with Ozil, who needs speedy forward runners to be effective.
Whilst Welbeck isn’t particularly prolific, he definitely has the potential to be so and this can be worked on. His other assets, such as being strong on the ball, bringing others into the game and his excellent work rate give him the ideal basis to be a front-man and with a bit of work on his finishing he could be a very useful forward.
Unlike many of the other forward player at the club Welbeck has a burning desire to get into the box and make things happen, many of the strikers at Arsenal in recent times have liked to drop short and when we get into a wide position there is often no one in the middle to finish off the move. Welbeck would provide this body in the middle and with all the chances we create you’d expect him to easily score goals.
Last term at United Welbeck scored 9 goals in 25 appearances. This represents a decent return for a player who was often deployed on the left and in a struggling side isn’t bad at all.
Ultimately I believe that Welbeck would be a very good signing for Arsenal. He has the necessary attributes to strike a good partnership with the other forward players and he has vast experience at premiership and international level. His career has stuttered somewhat in recent times but Arsenal would be the ideal club for Welbeck to rejuvenate and reignite his performances.