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Age appears no barrier for Thomas Tuchel’s England. An 18-month contract as a one-shot deal – North America or bust – little need to plan for the future. Any legacy is bound up in the success or failure of Mission 2026, hence the expected presence of “good tourist” Jordan Henderson, 36 less than a week after the World Cup kicks off.
Though Harry Kane is immovable, undroppable, there may yet be a vacancy for an athletic, intelligent, hard-working forward, capable of linking play and leading the press, should Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke falter. Anyone meeting the demands of modern forward play: apply within.
The top-scoring Englishmen in this season’s Premier League on four each are Burnley’s uncapped Jaidon Anthony, also eligible for Jamaica, and Danny Welbeck, whose last game for his country was at the 2018 World Cup. If Henderson was a Gareth Southgate mainstay, then Welbeck was a favourite of Roy Hodgson, his 16 goals in 42 appearances a decent scoring rate.
This season, Welbeck has been as good as any English striker. His finishing, as shown by predatory strikes for Brighton against Newcastle, gets better with age. The first, a falling-leaf dink, was followed by stroking home after a Dan Burn tackle set the ball loose. Calmness in the midst of a pell-mell match secured three points.
“I have the passion and love for football,” Welbeck said after the game. “It’s what I want to do. I feel good. I feel strong and fit so I won’t be stopping soon.”
He is 35 next month, and at Brighton, the club he joined as a free agent in 2020, after a season at Watford, is playing the best football of his career, his goal average per game – 0.36 – higher than in his 20s or as a teenage forward for Manchester United. He returns to Old Trafford on Saturday.
In the corridors of the Amex Stadium, at the foot of a staircase, is a photograph from September 2023 of Welbeck celebrating his goal at Old Trafford in a 3-1 win. No non-celebration celebration to follow scoring against his former club; the smile is broad. It is 11 years since Welbeck left United, recent arrival Louis van Gaal finding no place for him in a forward line that had Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney. That summer of 2014, United imported Radamel Falcao and Ángel Di María, where Welbeck had been the fruit of the club’s admired, cherished youth system.
Some on the coaching staff were aghast at the sale to Arsenal of a young man they had seen come all the way. Brian McClair, the former striker in charge of the academy, recalled “Danny running into the gym as a six- or seven-year-old at the Cliff [United’s then training ground] … he was a happy lad, he was enthusiastic, and he was quick”.
Welbeck was early collateral for attempts to modernise after Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, a process still far from completion. He began – and continues – the trend of former United players flourishing away from Old Trafford’s sapping turf. From the same Fletcher Moss nursery club that provided United with Wes Brown and Marcus Rashford, Welbeck was one of Ferguson’s final fledglings.
Taken to Moscow as part of the 2008 Champions League final travelling party, on the eve of the match he scored a hat-trick in training. Though left out of the matchday squad, he overslept so heavily after the post-match celebrations that Ferguson left him to make his own way to the airport.
In Ferguson’s final Champions League match, a last-16 encounter in March 2013, he started Welbeck instead of Rooney, Welbeck’s energy causing huge problems for Real Madrid, only for a scoring touch to desert him. Cristiano Ronaldo’s did not, United exited.
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At Arsenal, an inability to finish chances his movement had created was labelled a weakness. Still, Arsène Wenger, having snatched him from Tottenham’s grasp in 2014, remained a confirmed admirer. “He can play wide, on the right, and central, he can play with anybody,” he said in 2018.
Welbeck had the faith of two managerial greats but also experienced sore luck with injuries, missing Euro 2016 with a knee injury. He signed for Watford after a broken ankle had concluded his Arsenal career.
At Brighton, Welbeck has made use of hi-tech facilities and the staff’s expertise in recovery to enjoy an Indian summer, an experienced hand in one of world football’s prime talent factories, his dependability an asset as potential – and coaching regimes – comes in and out.
Brought in when Graham Potter was manager, before enjoying a close working relationship with Roberto De Zerbi, he has partnered a number of forwards, of varying skill sets, from Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay to Evan Ferguson and João Pedro. Georginio Rutter, who supplied the first against Newcastle, is his latest regular accomplice. Often on the flanks at United and Arsenal, he has played centrally almost exclusively.
After the Newcastle win, Brighton’s head coach, Fabian Hürzeler, close to three years younger than Welbeck, set aside the goals, instead hailing the overall package: “When we look at his performance, how many times did he help us defend the goal, how many recovery runs? … It’s about how he is as a leader.”
Hürzeler has full membership of a distinguished list of managers within Welbeck’s fanclub. Would Tuchel consider joining them?
