Monthly Archives: July 2018
Why Danny Welbeck Should Leave Arsenal
Following his £16m move from Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2014, the Englishman may have played just enough to justify his paltry price tag, especially considering the inflation of market price in recent years. However, everyone can agree that he hasn’t lived up to his potentials, and for a player who is approaching 28, it may be just the right time for Arsenal to sell and both parties can move on.
According to Goal, Danny Welbeck would be leaving the Gunners together with a star teammate as Unai Emery looks to build a stronger team than the one he inherited from Arsene Wenger. Consequently, West Ham and Everton have been backed as the most likely destinations of the 27 year old. Crystal Palace have also been backed by bookmakers, such as betting top 10, as a possible destination.
Danny Welbeck started his career at Manchester United amidst lots of pundit acclaims which virtually all English prospects have become accustomed to. He has the pace, and could play as a lone striker or on either flanks. He was meant to command his place in the English national team, and he did.
However, as football fans all over the world get accustomed to English talents failing to live up to their gifts, Welbeck has come into that category. Similar to the case of his countryman Wilshere, injuries have not been favourable, and the forward has had to fight several injuries in all of his seasons at the Emirates.
The presence of Unai Emery at Arsenal, as reported by The Sun, could be the catalyst needed to offload the Manchester-born forward. If anything, the Spanish tactician has shown in his early days in London that he isn’t scared of letting go of established players as evident in the exodus of Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere.
More importantly, Welbeck’s place in this Arsenal squad is not assured. Upfront, he has to contend with Gabonese player Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and French forward Lacazette. On the flanks, he has Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to compete with.
The former United forward played a total of 41 games for Arsenal in the 2017/18 season, scoring nine goals which is a below par return. While the total number of games played for the Gunners might seem incredible, he played 28 times in the Premier League, with 16 of those as a substitute. His number of games in the Europa League (10) was as a result of Lacazette’s injury and Aubameyang’s inability to play for a second team in the competition.
With the Gunners looking to fight City and others for the top place this season, they need to get rid of players that are not actively pushing them toward their grand goal, and Welbeck needs to create that extra space for one more top notch summer signing.
A Tale of Kelechi Nwakali and Those Youngsters With Questionable Futures at the Club
It has been confirmed that Arsenal youngster, Kelechi Nwakali, has joined FC Porto on a one season long, and it’s believed that a clause exists for the Portuguese team to buy the lad out rightly if he impresses in Estadio Dragao. With the likes of club captain, Hector Herrera, Danilo Pereira, Paulinho and Otavio in central midfield, Nwakali will have his work cut out for him and as a fellow Nigerian, I’m hopeful that he would be given a chance to show what he’s made of.
Nwakali came into the limelight following his outstanding performances in the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile, scoring three goals and winning the Golden Ball as Nigeria claimed its fifth title at this level. This was followed with a move to Arsenal in 2016 but as expected, Nwakali has been shipped out on loan for the past three seasons, with two spells in MVV Maastricht and a stint at VVV Venlo. Following his return from his last campaign on loan, Nwakali has been shipped to Porto and I hear that a buy out clause exists this time, which essentially means that he could potentially have a future outside the Emirates despite not kicking the ball for the team.
He’s not alone in this category, as there have been a host of youngsters with questionable futures at the club. Pictures of the players doing their thing in Singapore are all over the internet but there have been some high-profile omissions which include Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Carl Jenkinson, Chuba Akpom and Krystian Bielik. These guys are more or less living on borrowed time. The Jeff didn’t light any fireworks in Angers, Jenkinson had a good double spell at West Ham but injury hampered his progress in Birmigham, while Akpom has featured in six different clubs on loan and is on the verge of joining Saint Trudien on a permanent basis.
This summer has already seen highly-rated youngsters in the forms of Vlad Dragomir and Yassin Fortune leave the club for pastures anew. Takumo Asano has been shipped to Hannover 96 in Germany and I’m pretty sure he would follow the routes of former Asians like Junichi Inamoto and Park Chu-Young out of the Emirates when his contract is up.
It’s not like the club doesn’t support youth development as we still have the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Kostantinos Mavropanos and new recruit, Matteo Guendouzi plying their trade with the first team and are currently in the Far East. It’s just that football is such an unforgiving sport with the likes of Jack Wilshere – a Gunner through and through moving to West Ham after the gaffer told him that he couldn’t secure first team football for him.
With Per Mertesacker taking the Head of Youth Academy role this season, the onus will be on him to find the NextGen of Arsenal youngsters that could make a claim for first team action.
Sayonara.
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Welbeck Linked With Everton – Good Move for the Player and the Club
With the World Cup finally over (congrats France!!!), we are back to preseason action and the Gunners have shown some attacking ruthlessness, blasting eight past a hapless Boreham Wood and surprisingly, they smashed nine past Crawley Town in a friendly behind closed doors. Some pictures surfaced and it was nice seeing Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette strutting their stuff together.
With the summer acquisitions of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papathatopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi, it’s highly unlikely for the Gunners to do any transfer business, so it only makes sense to balance the books with some departures on the other end. Sure I have see Carl Jenkinson play in a couple of games, but will he be comfortable enough to wait for his chance behind Hector Bellerin and Lichtsteiner? Joel Campbell didn’t do much justice to market himself during the World Cup, but he certainly knows how to find a loan spell somewhere away from the Emirates. Then there are those youngsters that may never make the grade like Chuba Akpom and co.
According to the times, Marco Silva and his Everton are interested in signing Danny Welbeck this summer. Unlike Aaron Ramsey whose contractual situation has been clearly publicized due to his importance to the team, Welbeck has less than 12 months on his contract and it will make some sense to ship him away and re-invest in the team if need be. Since his move from Manchester United, Welbz hasn’t really lighted any fireworks but he has done his bit here and there – however, not really good enough for the team in the grand scale of things. Sure he provides some depth and he’s homegrown, but many fans will not bat an eyelid if Welbeck joins Theo Walcott in the blue of Everton.
I’ve always felt that Welbeck is a mid-table forward at best, and he could possibly thrive in a team like Everton. They struggled with big Sam last season and never did enough to replace the monumental loss of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United. With Wayne Rooney gone to the MLS to enjoy his twilight years, Welbeck will have the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Oumar Niasse to contend with and it’s fair to say that he will get the nod ahead of those two.
I hope this move comes to fruition and I wish him the very best in his future endeavors. The league starts pretty soon and the transfer window closes with it, so I’d be hopeful he makes that move. Besides, we have Alex Iwobi and Lucas Perez to provide width on the flanks to make up for the loss of Welbeck.
It’s going to be a good move for the player and the club.
Sayonara.
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