Danny Welbeck insists Arsenal have yet to see the best of him since his move from Manchester United last August.
The England international enjoyed a steady if unspectacular start to life at the Emirates, netting 8 goals in 33 games, before a knee injury ruled him out of the final month of the season.
Eager to start the next campaign with a bang, the 24-year-old underlined that intense competition for places will no doubt help drive him to new levels.
“Competition is healthy,” he told Arsenal.com at the launch of Arsenal’s new Puma home kit.
“It gives the manager a selection headache, which is the best for the team to drive us forward and keep improving.
“With the selection of players the manager has got you can use people in different styles and positions, which is only going to help the squad. I’m sure that when anyone is called upon, they are going to give 100 per cent to try to stay in the team for the next game.
“Wherever you play on the pitch, whether it be the left, on the right or down the middle, you are going to give you best. I know I definitely have more levels to go to, and I am really looking forward to doing that next season.”
Having watched from the Wembley touchline as his teammates secured a second successive FA Cup triumph, the former Red Devil also tipped Arsenal for even bigger success in the future.
“We definitely want to push on as a club,” he continued. “With the players we’ve got there is no reason why we should not be up there challenging for the Premier League – it is something which is within our ambitions as a team.
“Our slow start at the beginning of last season cost us in May, and when we look back on the points we should have got, then we would have been right up there.”
Welbz and Walcott can add at least 25 goals together. Ozil, Wilshere and Chambo can score more too. We do have goals in this team.
My thoughts exactly.
I would love us to go out and splash the cash on a big name striker, but if we don’t, keeping players fit should see us succeed our goalscoring tally of this season.
If Walcott+Welbz=25 a season,then that means Welbeck scores 5?
Theo can add 25 by himself tbh.
25 Really? His best season he scored 21 (in all competitions). Not likely but if he did start scoring like that I would gladly eat my hat.
In that best season, when he was indeed brilliant, he didn’t have nearly the supporting cast that he and our other forwards have now. In our current line-up, yes, I think Theo can score 25 in a season (although it would be a stretch). On a more realistic note, I think that if everyone remains healthy, Theo, Giroud and Sanchez could all score at least 20 in a season. Has any top flight team ever had three 20 goal scorers in one season?
There are definitely goals in this team.
Barcelona n 2008 or 2009 season: Henry, Messi & Eto all had 30+ goals if i’m not wrong. But yeah, 3 players scoring 20+ would be great.
Barca??
Welbz, Walcott, Chambo, Wilshere and Ozil together have just manged to score 25 in all competitions. Not to be intentionally negative but you haven’t mentioned the most prolific of players.
Not that I dont rate these players just I wouldnt be relying on their goal scoring prowess
I guess he would be one of Wenger’s ‘projects’!
He has all the attributes except for his finishing ability – which Wenger can help improve.
It would be great to see him succeed with us, as it not only would force aa small change in the British media view of the club helping to improve the national team but also because it will be another reason to laugh at ManU.
Dat guy can be the guy.
Wellbz really is a player that can improve particularly as I feel his main room for improvement is his confidence and composure in front of goal. He has all the attributes of a frontman apart from that and this is where Wenger is out there on his own when it comes converting potential in to something special.
Sorry but Welbeck isn’t the guy when it comes to scoring. If Ferguson and Wenger cannot get you score, you’re not a natural goal scorer, period.
I think I kind of agree with this. You can’t really give a player an instinct…
Let’s hope he’s a late developer like Drogba, and that he’s willing to wait around at Arsenal until that happens!
If he had never shown the capability for finishing, or never shown the right instincts then I’d agree with you. As it is, we have seen what he can do and if he can do it consistently then he’ll be an absolute beast, easier said than done but to dismiss him like that without considering the mitigating factors (things like his run in the team was when we were a bit shit, mybe he was the sole cause of that but I seriously doubt it).
Compare to Theo. He was playing badly after his return from injury and scored three with very little game time. When Theo started regaining form, we all have witnessed what he can do. I am not underestimating what Welbeck brings to the team. His high workrate, gaining possession and driving forward is important for the team but is that goal scoring ?
I think that you are forgetting that Theo is consistent in patches. Yes he played brilliantly for a few games and scored like crazy. He will do that. Then he disappears. When Wellbeck plays 30+ games he generally gets around 10 goals. Theo gets around the same output (varies around 7-13 per season). Theo had one good season where hit 21. So to say he is a guaranteed 20+ goal scorer is just madness. Don’t get me wrong, I like Theo and want to keep him but let’s not get all gooey about him either.
Dick, you base your opinion on “what he can do,” but we’re basing our doubts on the same thing…
I would love to see more from Welbeck, but even when he got a good run in the team, there were equal parts questions as answers. No sense pretending that’s not the case.
That was in reply to someone who said that he simply hasn’t shown the capability to score a decent amount of goals, as it stands Welbeck is not a goal machine by any stretch of the imagination but there are enough mitigating factors to convince me that he could be.
He’s at a good age for lanky strikers to start flourishing, I’d be much more sure of my opinion on him next Summer; you’re right about there still being many questions.
he’s a goal machine for England though.. make him wear his England shirt under his Arsenal shirt
I still get goosebumps when I think back to his Henry-esque finishes against Galatasaray in the Champs League. Welbz is Dat Guy!
Hate to be controversial, but out of all our squad, apart from a new keeper, his position is one I could see us improving on.
Seems like a nice enough lad but not enough end product for me. Didn’t rate him at united and not his biggest fan in red and white.
Completely see where you’re coming from, I feel like next season is quite important for Welbeck (and Chambo to a certain extent), there’s bags of potential but he definitely needs to start adding more goals to his game. Fingers crossed with Wenger’s tutelage he can step up and start to add end product to his game on a regular basis.
Chambo’s what, 21? I reckon he still has a couple of years to turn those near misses into golazos.
Last year, I lived in a small town in East Yorkshire. One evening in the local, I got chatting with a man who seemed to know an awful lot about football. It turned out he was a scout (amongst other things) for Hull City, and in a moment of selfish curiosity I asked him which Arsenal player he rated most highly. I was expecting him to say Ozil or Ramsey, but his response was immediate and firm: Oxlade Chamberlain. He reckoned if we kept him fit he would be as valuable for us as Bergkamp or Pires. I suspect that… Read more »
One of the reasons I love Wenger is because every season, I feel like each player on our team improves. Developing talent is something that he is gifted with. So it stands to reason that Welbz will be an improved player this upcoming season. And with as much potential as he does have, I think Wenger is the perfect coach to turn that potential into end product. I’m excited to see how Welbz fares next season. I expect a breakout year.
He’s a really solid squad player who I like a lot, its up to him to step up and make himself an undroppable first team regular.
I enjoyed watching him dump manure out of the cup and feel he is one player that does perform for England lol but he is a gunner so being quality comes naturally
Gotta love his boobs in dat pic.
Welbz seems like a genuinely nice guy. Would love for him to shine for us next season, and thus show the finger to LVG’s Manure.
Off topic but does this still pop in anyone’s head from time to time? “Then came a moment that I think I will be able to look at forever and ever and ever. Florent Malouda played a pretty poor pass back to John Terry who turned and just fell over. Was it the spirit of the Arseblog basset hound? I like to think so. Had it been winter I’m sure Terry would have blamed black ice, but whatever it was, Terry was on the ground, his face in the dirt where it belongs, and Robin van Persie was clean through… Read more »
I’m looking forward to seeing what Welbz can offer next season, he has all the right attributes to become a top quality premiership striker except for the composure, but luckily that is something that can come with coaching and practice. For me he has to be the striker who plays in the ‘bigger’ games, his pace, work rate & movement causes problems for teams defenders when they have the ball (see United FA Cup game) combine that with Alexis & Ramsey/Ox from the right and we will be winning the ball back inside opponents 6 yard boxes before too long
Walcott Sanchez and Welbeck upfront in a 4-3-3
Would we need more than 1 in midfield with that amount of pace?!
I favour 4-2-4 and stick Giroud up top as well! Özil and Santi can argue who plays alongside Ramsey/Coq
Not even if we were playing 9th tier FC Nobody from Narnia in the FA Cup.
I know we all want to believe, but I have my doubts.
Not just based on his own performances, but largely because Wenger’s “random player gambles” seldom work out. The best players are the ones he scouts and are actively his first choice.
The fact that we only went in for him due to injury, is one thing, the fact that we initially went in with a loan offer kinda betrays what I suspect was never meant to be a long term option.
Also, I feel with Wenger having a choice of who to play more between Welbz and Ox, he will play the latter. This will become even more of the case if Theo is used as a CF more often.
I like Welbeck a lot. I think he’s got something about him. He seems to really go for it in the big games too. He always used to cause us problems, he scored for us against United and he scared the shit out of Danny Rose in the derby (ok we lost but he made a vital contribution to the goal). He’s not all there yet but if he can reach that moment where everything clicks for him we could have a great player on our hands. The work rate of him, Sanchez and Ox is phenomenal and he should… Read more »
I’m confused: are we hoping for Welbeck to kick on next season and score a bunch of goals, or do we want to go out and buy a ‘world class’ striker? Both of those happening seems pretty unlikely, unless many people feel Welbeck should be first choice on the other wing (the one Alexis isn’t on) or something.
Exactly.
danny will get more this year if he says fit I reckon he will get 20+ goals. coyg
Welbeck will take some time to develop and mature. Give him few more years and he will be next Henry. He is intelligent guy and these types need maturity to really start shining. That takes time.
I don’t expect much of him next year, but in 2-3 years he will be massive.
If you listen to main stream media, you’ll be hearing rubbish like how we need another striker. We scored 104 goals last season with 20 different players! And that’s with Giroud missing a big chunk of the season and Welbeck! Welbz is only 23yrs. The same age Ramsey and Walcott and Coquelin (and Fabregas) came good. With a second season and hopefully an uninterrupted one, he can go far. He has the physical attributes of pace and height. Surprisingly, he is also technically good (something I mention to a mate of mine who is a United supporter when Danny was… Read more »
My favorite part of welbecks goal against united was him ignoring old trafford and celebrating with his teammates.