According to a snippet in today’s Times, Everton are interested in signing Danny Welbeck from Arsenal.
The 27 year old is of interest to new Toffees boss, Marco Silva, and with less than 12 months left on his current deal – and no suggestion that a new one is in the offing – the former Manchester United man could be on his way this summer.
Welbeck is currently on an extended break after the World Cup in Russia, and is not due back to the club until late July/early August. With a truncated transfer window for the Premier League it leaves little time to sort out his future, and at the moment he’s clearly the third choice striker at Arsenal behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
Although he can play wide, he may feel that at this point in his career he wants regular football up front, and the Gunners have the safety net of Spaniard Lucas Perez to provide depth up front as they compete in the league and in the Europa League.
There was speculation earlier this week that Welbeck could be one of the men to make way as Arsenal trim a squad that is quite heavy following five summer arrivals.
Bernd Leno, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi have all joined, meaning Unai Emery has to let some players go.
Injury problems have meant Welbeck’s time at the club has been mixed, and while he’s been a popular figure among players and fans his contractual situation makes him one of the favourites to depart.
If this deal happens, I will be happy for him. He is a decent player but plagued by injuries. Perez as an option for us sounds cool but I would still think we go for one young promising striker.
All The Best!
We have Eddie as a young promising striker.
We have Eddie. Eddie is good enough for me as a third striker option
Especially good as 4th, considering Lucas. I would imagine in an important scenario with Auba and Laca unavailable, that Lucas would be the choice
Third choice striker in any top club really should be a talented youth.
Otherwise might as well just do away with the academy.
Perez is pretty dangerous on the flank, he knows how to cross and finish.
I have a feeling welbeck would be a better rb than bellerin. :p
Let it rain reds!
I like welbeck, I think he’s been unlucky to have suffered the arsenal injury curse, it seems to happen every time he starts performing well.
He’s also been unlucky at the World Cup, he wasn’t given the opportunity to perform meaning he’s also missed the chance to work with Emery
I suspect he’ll go and unfortunately he’ll start appearing on those clickbait “thirty biggest Wenger flops” which isn’t really fair
People forget that he was our number-one striker when healthy for a while, and we always played our best football with him in the lineup. With Alexis on the left and Ozil in the team, we played fast, good football with Welbeck and it didn’t matter if he scored or not.
He is not a flop. He brought us our first trophy in 9 years when in 2014 he scored against Man U. His goal was worth the £18million paid for him.
Our first trophy in 9 years was the season before when we beat Hull. The game where Welbeck scored the winner at Old Trafford was the following season when we went on to beat Villa in the 2015 final and retain the trophy.
Who gives a fuck to be honest. He scored against man utd the same season he left them. And he celebrated. Worth the 18 million.
Favorite moment would be his last minute winner to keep us in the title race though with Leicester. Shame we fucked that up.
I also think he’ll really benefit or work well with this pressing system Unai wants to implement.
Great bloke. Will miss him.
Wouldn’t be a bad move for Danny. Love his work rate but let’s face it, he can’t finish for shit, and we obviously need to trim the squad down. Seems like a genuinely nice guy, and will wish him sucess if he moves to secure 1st team football elsewhere.
Blogs – I’m surprised that you think Perez will be with us at the start of the season.
Also aren’t we a bit short on the homegrown quota if Welbeck goes?
What if Eddie is promoted? He is still a reserve player now, right?
I’m only basing this on Football Manager, but I think you can register as many under 21 homegrown players (who normally don’t have to be registered as part of the 25) as you like. So Nelson, Nketiah, Maitland Niles could all be registered if needed to make up the quota so long as the total doesn’t exceed 25.
Current over-21 hg players by my count:
Macey
Chambers
Holding
Bellerin
Jenkinson
Ramsey
Iwobi
Welbeck
8 are needed
Yup. Add Martinez & Akpom to the HG list too.
Good point on the HG players.
But what about AMN, Eddie, Nelson, and The Jeff?
If they count toward the HGP count, even losing Welbz, first team is still way over 8. And TBH, I’m not certain who the first team is going to be this term. Anyhoo, exciting times.
I think the issue is not that we need more home-grown players, but that we have too many non-home-grown players. All the more reason why selling Szczesny instead of Ospina was stupid (but I won’t go on). I think we need to move 3/4 non-home-grown players out of the squad before the season starts. I wonder if Mavropanos will go on loan. He was supposed to in January, before Arsene flexed his muscles and said he was going nowhere. I would’ve thought that it had been Sven’s idea all along, so I wonder if that’s the plan now, unless Unai… Read more »
Sell him asap !
Not quite good enough for us.
Great athlete, nice guy but a goal roughly every five games throughout his career isn’t good enough.
Hope he kicks on at Everton, except against us.
Not Wenger’s biggest mistake though:
Asked about the biggest error of his career, Wenger replied: “Perhaps staying at the same club for 22 years.”
“I regret having sacrificed everything I did because I realise I’ve hurt a lot of people around me,” he added.
“Deep down though, the obsessed man is selfish in his pursuit of what he loves.
“He ignores a lot of other things. But it’s a bone to chase at the same time.”
NO, wengers biggest mistake was giving ozil 350 grand a week, and his second was to buy ozil in the first place.
Three FA Cups since he joined us. Not sure what mistake you were talking there mate.
Only thanks to the likes of Cazorla, Ramsey, Giroud..etc
Do not feed the troll.
These are his words, obviously you know better than him with your intellect and managerial experience.
Nah! Imho, it was not getting Suarez when he had the chance.
Yes the most creative player since Bergkamp and Henry but you continually make your pathetic criticism. Ozil a world class player who helped us win 3 FA CUPS.
“The most creative player since Bergkamp and Henry” …
Fabregas?
Pires lol. Assist record breaker for that 1 season wasn’t it??
I tipped you over the 100 thumbs down afan ny congratulations!
Pretty surprised there hasn’t been more on this on the blog, I’m upset and I only joined Wenger out in 15/16, for people who were, now rightly seems by the own mans admissions, calling for change 8/9 years ago, you were right, and the club has been in a decline that we might not have pulled out from if we’d blindly kept believing that ‘Arsene Knows’. He did, for damn sure, but then he didn’t, and probably should have gone 9/10. And without the protests and the empty seats he may not have gone this year, so a complete and… Read more »
Well said. It’s a staggering admission that hasn’t been discussed enough.
A lot of people will refuse to admit that Wenger ended up agreeing with the fans they spent so long abusing.
I am not taking issue with whether or not Wenger should have left earlier, but only with the way people are interpreting his words as “agreeing with the [Wenger out] fans” on this. Pretty clearly, in context, he means that it might have been better for him and his own happiness to have left years earlier to seek new challenges–not that it would have been better for Arsenal. This is not much different than what he has said for years, that he could have gone to Barca, etc., but stayed to fulfill his commitment to the club when the new… Read more »
The reasons for both sides may have been different; for fans, it was the deterioration of performance and the club, for himself, it was deterioration in his family life and close relationships (failed marriage, apparently distant with his daughter, etc.).
But both come from the same source, which was Wenger and Arsenal’s relationship had become dangerously unhealthy and unchecked many years ago.
And in that regards, yes, those who demanded change years ago were right and Wenger is at least admitting to the root cause.
Exactly, he admitted to the root cause. Like I said, people will refuse to admit it. Let me explain this to Different George in the simplest of terms – many of us wanted more modern tactical coaching but we also wanted Wenger to find a new challenge and go and win the European Cup he deserved. You think we weren’t interested in his welfare? We wanted to see him win. What we didn’t want was for us our legendary manager to become a “yes man” to an absent American owner who showed zero, ZERO, sporting ambition and was damaging the… Read more »
Nah, I’m not interested in dragging that on. I’m moving on and remembering the Professor for the good times. I no longer care to waste the time and energy descending into the depths of the negative side of it all. He brought trophies. And beautiful attacking play. And Pires, Henry, Bergkamp, Paddy, Rosicky, Cesc, Jack Wiltshire vs Barcelona, Thunderfoot, Ozil, HFB and BFG, Santi, and Laca and Auba. He didn’t bring as many as we wanted, but that ever would have been the way because deep down inside we’re all still a bunch of greedy little children getting upset over… Read more »
Agreed. Would love to hear blogs and others (except Fatgooner) thoughts on this. Quite a shocking omission from the man , maybe the emotional side of things have finally caught up on him
http://www.espn.com/soccer/arsenal/story/3568618/arsene-wenger-staying-at-arsenal-for-22-years-perhaps-my-biggest-mistake
Not even a mistake. Was a great signing and played very well for us. Plagued by injuries but came back late last season and was excellent. Feel sorry for him at Russia where he was given only 10 minutes and frankly believe he would have offered more than Sterling.
@martin he hardly came back late season, his back injury kept him out of all the games he didn’t fancy
Fake news if you’re talking about Welbeck.
I would imagine that he, DW – Jenkinson, Akpom, Ospina and a couple of other will be moved on. The numbers demand it.
yeah, that will be a good move for him, he never was an arsenal player
Afan is there any Arsenal player you really like? Your negativity is totally embarrassing
just being honest
Afanny is my new name for you.
I would hold on to him but if it’s him or Perez, I would also find it exciting if Perez would be our number one joker (“LANS”). I guess it all depends on whether we’ll play with one or two upfront; if the latter is the case, we should perhaps not get rid of either (or replace). anyone know how Perez did in Spain in the meantime?
He had a rough start but regained his scoring form in the latter part of the season, finishing with 8 goals and 6 assists.
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/135663/Show/Lucas-Pérez
But more importantly, he finished in the top for key passes in La Liga with only Messi and Kroos ahead of him: https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/206/Tournaments/4/Seasons/6960/Stages/15375/PlayerStatistics/Spain-La-Liga-2017-2018
So based on his La Liga 17-18 stats and what we briefly saw from his first Arsenal season, he seems much more interesting to keep as both a striker and a creative outlet for the team than Welbeck.
It’s also worth mentioning he was playing for a dreadful team who were effectively relegated by like March. So he had a decent individual season all things considered
Looking at Lucas Perez’ key passes stat (2.4 per game), the only Premier League players who bettered that last season were:
Mesut Ozil 3.2
KdB 2.9
Cesc 2.8
Alexis 2.7
Eriksen 2.8
Hazard 2.5
A genuine leftie who can deliver dangerous balls from wide on the left. Tears in my eyes
Gosh, seeing that you’d think that Ozil is actually rather good at what he does.
Thank god we have enough opinionated tosspots here to ensure that factual information like that remains lost in the bullshit.
Unrelated – but what about the rumoura of Cech back to Chelsea?
I like Danny but if this means that Nketiah will be getting real minutes, or frees up funds and space for a direct and pacy winger (who can dribble without tackling himself), then I’m all for it.
I imagine his fee will be around £15-20m and he’s probably on wages approaching £100k/wk, and I don’t think he’s quite worth that to us, useful as he can be. We have to be way more efficient with our limited funds if we’re to compete again, even if that means slightly weakening the squad temporarily. 1 step back to facilitate 2 steps forward.
Really like Welbeck and hope he signs a new deal, I agree that his injuries are a concern, but generally feel more comfortable with him in the team, and I think he’s made for a pressing system.
Say howdy to Theo
I really don’t get it why he should leave and why some fans want him to leave. He is not a bad player. Apart from Mkhitaryan he is our best winger. He may be bad in front of the goal but the qualites that makes him good are the things we should always evaluate more. I think he is a kind of a player who gives a team a balance, a stabillity. For me he was always a good option for the LW. Good on the ball, quick, explosive, team player, defensively solid… Underrated player. He was always unlucky with… Read more »
I agree with you, Welbeck is an interesting player to have around as he offers different tactical options than our other forwards, with his raw power and athleticism, as well as his fighting spirit and good character. But I think you have the wrong image about Perez. Between the new language, country, league, the tactical laissez-faire and the fact that he had to fight for a place against long-time Wenger favorites (Walcott, Giroud), he may have struggled to adapt and gain sufficient game time in his first season with Arsenal. But I think that what he showed was very exciting… Read more »
To conclude, considering their distinct qualities and playing style, I’d be keen on keeping Perez rather than Welbeck if the choice needs to be made.
(Sorry for double posting)
“he was top 3 in key passes per game behind only Messi and Kroos”
Curious. He seemed good whenever I saw him, dogged and dynamic but still quite a lot more skilled than Welbeck. I’d be up for keeping him. Perhaps whatever happened between him and Wenger will be an irrelevance to however Emery now appraises him. I’d hope so.
Though if he goes then I’d be more than happy for Nketiah to get third choice.
Free Danny
Can’t help but love Welbz – his positive attitude, athleticism and big old pearly whites are infectious. However it feels like this is one of those rare occasions when a transfer is the best option for ALL parties: Everton, him and of course, The Arsenal. He showed the odd glimpse again in the tail end of last season what he can bring to a game. However as always, it required a string of about 6-10 appearances to find his range and quite literally, stop spaffing chances all over the shop. Auba | Laca | Nketiah offer us much to be… Read more »
Emery hasn’t even seen Welbz train yet. How can Lucas be considered a better option, I will never understand. How about we get rid of Lucas & Joel Campbell and keep Danny?
Perez was good in a really poor Deportivo side last season , Welbeck was poor in a good Arsenal side last season (Compared to Deportivo)
I think it’s probably a good idea for all parties involved. He’s a good player, who’s been unlucky with injuries and is the type who seems to need a good, uninterrupted, run of games to produce their very tip-top performances. Due to his injuries and the undoubted quality of his competition, he’s never had that with us and is now even less likely to get it. Aubameyang & Lacazette are nailed on way ahead of him and the last thing we need to do is starve Eddie Nketiah of opportunity to develop with us. I’m happy with that, Thanks &… Read more »
YES! Sell him asap.. He cant score even if his life depended on it.
Who’s going to score goals with his arse for us if Danny boy leaves??
Decent bloke ‘ Yes ‘ but not a good footballer, especially for #AFC
I would have thought a squad needs more than 3 strikers. If Welbeck goes, I cant see Perez staying either. He has not really cut it at Arsenal, and did not do well on his loan back to his Spanish club. That would just leave Eddie, as Chuba is probably going too
Perez did very well when given the opportunity. He eve. Scored a hat trick c Basel. Unfortunately like Podolski he was never trusted by Wenger
Average and injury prone. I won’t miss him.
Welbeck out; Kingsley Coman in!!
I’m just waiting to hear about the exchange deal with Cech for Giroud…. I miss the HFB. Much more than I’ll miss Welbz. He’s got heart, but he’s not someone who should be starting for us. I won’t mind at all if he stays, but I understand if he wants to go. He deserves to play, with his great attitude.
Bollocks!
Welbeck was a typical latter-years Wenger signing: a mediocre player who was frequently injured. He was a slower version of Arsene’s favourite baby: Theo Walnutt. Sure Welbeck did a few great things – that FA Cup goal against Man United was my favourite – but after years at the club he is a crashing disappointment. He is going nowhere at Arsenal.
This new management are now carrying out a ruthless and efficient purge of the club; the likes of Cech and Welbect should be part of it. It’s time to look to the future – and Welbeck isn’t it.
Would be sad to see him go but at the same time I’m surprised he wasn’t already sold by Wenger considering that he let Walcott and Giroud go, both of whom were better goal scorers. The move does makes sense for him, though only if he can oust Tosun and Calvert-Lewin.
Everton really do like buying our old shit
I don’t half mind if we sell him on. AGAIN those moaning about Giroud when Welbeck isn’t even half as effective. There was/is a reason Deschamp started Giroud ahead of Lacazette. Lacazette cannot protect the ball up top and give us an outlet when we are under duress at the back. Giroud was good at holding the ball for us. If Danny gets sold, he should also fetch a fairly decent price which will cull back on the 70m outlay plus hopefully sales on Jenko, Campbell, Akpom. That will encourage us to finally add the wide player we need. As… Read more »