Why offloading Danny Welbeck is the right choice by Unai Emery
Arsenal are already looking a much different side to the one that showed up in the league last season. The Unai Emery effect is in place and the manager will be immediately tasked with the job of taking the Gunners back into the top-four. The Gunners have finished in Europa League spots for consecutive years now and finishing in the top-four will be his number one priority this season.
The Gunners have already made a number of signings to bolster their squad ahead of the new campaign. However, the manager is now aiming to trim his bloated squad before the start of the new campaign. Two players who are facing risks of being offloaded are Danny Welbeck and David Ospina.
Both the players are currently on holiday after representing their nations at the World Cup in Russia. Arsenal have already spent in excess of £70million for all the transfers and the manager is going to have to recoup some of that money by offloading the unwanted stars.
Danny Welbeck joined the Gunners from Manchester United in the summer of 2014 for £16m. A lack of game time with the Red Devils saw him decide to make the move to London. The 27-year-old has since gone on to make a total of 80 appearances in the league for Arsenal, scoring 15 goals in that time.
Welbeck was a regular in the line-up during the initial stages but was soon ousted by other players. The likes of Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, both of whom have left the club now, ensured that Welbeck often warmed the bench.
The former Manchester United man made a total of just 12 appearances in the league last season, scoring 5 goals and providing 2 assists. He is generally deployed as a striker but the Arsenal man is also capable of playing on either flank as he has so often done during his time at the Emirates.
But the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette almost guarantees that Welbeck won’t see any real game time next season. He will fall down the pecking order under Unai Emery and will be seen as surplus to the manager’s requirements.
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Arsenal are doing the right thing by choosing to sell him off. The Gunners can use the funds for his transfer to strengthen the squad in other areas. Welbeck is an excellent striker with a lot of good traits and possesses all the qualities to play for any mid-table Premier League side.