The Class of Danny Welbeck

Danny Welbeck.

Galatasary.

6 chances.

3 goals.

Man of the match.

Danny Welbeck.

Chelsea.

0 chances.

0 goals.

Non existent in the match.

The two sides of Danny Welbeck beautifully illustrated in the space of 4 days.

From the moment Danny joined Arsenal we have seen his career perform like a heart monitor.

Shot up after his two goal salvo for England against Switzerland.

Straight back down for his debut miss at Manchester City.

A hat trick in the Champions League.

Then absolutely nothing during the game with Chelsea.

Never more beautifully did he illustrate how he is such a class player - just not a world class player.

Danny can produce brilliantly like against Galatasary on Wednesday when he became only the sixth Englishman to score a Champions League hat-trick.

Then get completely nullified four days later on Sunday when he played against a top quality side.

Just like last month when he scored against last season’s fifteenth placed Aston Villa.

And was then completely shut-out when he played the champions Manchester City.

A lot has been said of one of the most surprising deals of transfer deadline day in recent weeks.

Mainly from Arsenal fans.

Who reacted on twitter with many feelings - bewilderment included.

Their team had just spent £16m on a player who often attracted derision from fans outside of the Old Trafford.

Derision from fans inside at times too.

They needed a striker, badly.

With Arsene Wenger off refereeing a charity match in Rome, the Gunners faithful feared the worse with just hours to go before the window closed.

No mention of a striker for weeks until suddenly Danny Welbeck’s name cropped up.

He was a striker alright.

Just not a very good one.

Or at least that’s what they had thought.

His record suggested he wasn’t what their team needed.

Games for Manchester United - 142.

Goals for Manchester United - 29.

Hardly figures to set even the most optimistic of supporter’s imagination alight.

The reaction of Manchester United’s fans suggested otherwise.

Respected pundits such as Gary Neville questioned the sale.

Paul Scholes, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham too.

Even Mike Phelan, Sir Alex Ferguson’s right hand man came out against the decision of Louis Van Gaal.

A decision make entirely by Louis Van Gaal.

For Louis Van Gaal.

And for Manchester United.

Louis has come in to this massive club and now needs to stamp his authority.

He will have looked at the reactions of said former players and known every one of them came from the Sir Alex Ferguson school of thought.

And under the great Scotsman, Danny would not have been sold.

At least not yet.

But life is different now and Louis is not cut from the same cloth.

He has no sentimentality towards players who came through the ranks at the club having been there since the age of 10.

He is a lot more black and white than that.

He will have seen the stat of 29 goals in 142 games.

The problem for Danny is he will have looked at the stat of 155 goals in 200 games as well.

Radamel Falcao’s return since he came to Europe is astonishing.

He hasn’t stopped scoring since he arrived on the continent.

Lighting up the teams of Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco.

Costing the French side £51m last summer.

A return of 35 goals in his 41 games in European competition.

His two seasons in Europe’s best league saw a return of 24 and 28 league goals.

36 and 34 overall.

In every season he played in Europe bar the one season not finished due to his cruciate ligament injury, he has scored more goals than Danny has scored in his 6 years at Manchester United in total.

Every season.

34, 38, 36, 34.

Compared to an overall of 29.

Danny is just not in the same league.

Not even close.

Excuses can be made of how Danny has been forced to play out wide in far too many games before.

He has craved this central role that he will get at Arsenal.

But Falcao wasn’t played out wide to accommodate Diego Costa at Atletico Madrid.

The same Diego Costa who would go on to score 36 goals the following season.

That’s not what managers do with world class players.

They do that with players like Danny Welbeck.

They even sell players like Danny for sums as paltry as £16m.

A great price for Arsenal to pay.

A price that got them a great striker.

Just not one as good as Falcao...

Does England Have The Premier League?

The hyperbole machine is in full flow this month.

We’ve been told the best league in the world has returned.

We’ve been told the most entertaining league in the world has returned.

We’ve been told the most competitive league in the world has returned.

Problem is - We’re just not sure if it’s returned to England.

The Premier League hyperbole machine will tell us it has of course.

They’ll tell us just about anything about how eminent the league is.

But it continuously fails to mention the most pertinent description it can offer - the best branded league in the world.

The Premier League has an awful lot going for it.

Most fans.

Most watched.

Most money.

Off the pitch it’s unbeatable.

It’s on the pitch the problems lie.

Season after season the best the Premier League has to offer seems to be off to La Liga.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the first major talent to leave in recent seasons.

Manchester United’s main man.

He was followed by Cesc Fabrages.

Arsenal’s main man.

Gareth Bale then picked up both player of the year awards.

Then promptly picked up and left.

The trend continued this summer when multiple player of the year award winner Luis Suarez landed in Barcelona.

Yet when we look at the reverse transfer dealings, it’s not the top players or star men of Spanish clubs that head for the shores of England.

As usual, Diego Costa aside, it was another summer of England’s finest picking off what Spain’s finest decided to cast off.

Barcelona decided Cesc Fabregas was surplus to requirements after they signed Suarez.

Alexis Sanchez too.

Much like when Bale arrived last summer and Mesut Ozil was allowed to leave, this year it was the turn of Angel DiMaria who was free to go.

Available for transfer only after Real Madrid had sufficiently bolstered their squad with the best there was to offer.

When it comes to individual awards, the English league’s top players rarely feature either.

Since 2010, only Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic have made the FIFPro team of the year.

Not that the Germans or Italians have featured prominently either.

It’s the Spanish who have dominated completely.

Of the 44 players chosen since the turn of the decade, 34 have come from the Spanish league.

32 players more than the ‘best league in the world’.

Of course, It’s not just the players who make the league.

The teams are primary.

And right now it’s hard to look past the elite of the Spanish and German leagues.

An all Spanish affair in the final of the Champions League last season.

An all German affair the season before.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Chelsea flying the flag for the Premier League, it would be pretty poor reading in the Champions League over the past three seasons.

Manchester City have gone out in the group stages twice and the last 16 once.

Manchester United have gone out in the group stages, the last 16 and the quarter finals.

While Arsenal have not made it past the last 16 any of the seasons.

Even Chelsea, with their triumph 3 seasons ago have exited the competition at the group stage too.

Hardly statistics to back up the title of best league in the world.

Hyperbole will argue that the Premier League is more competitive of course.

It’s only the big two in Spain and the big one in Germany.

A quick look back over the last 10 years reveal otherwise.

All three countries have had a dominant club in the league - Manchester United (5 times winners), Barcelona (6), Bayern Munich (6).

Followed by a secondary team - Chelsea (3), Real Madrid (3), Borussia Dortmund (2).

And some less successful clubs - Manchester City (2), Atletico Madrid (1), Wolfsburg (1) and Schalke (1).

Tough to argue it’s more competitive when only 3 teams have won the league in the last 1o years - the same as it’s La Liga counterparts and 1 less then the Bundesliga.

The battle for the Champions League places, or top four, is even less compelling reading.

Only 7 teams have qualified from England in the last 10 years.

The supposedly less competitive nation of Germany has had 9 qualifiers.

The supposedly even less competitive Spanish league has had 12.

Examining the top 4 of each league last season pours further cold water on the argument of competitiveness.

The top 4 in the Premier League dropped a combined total of 125 points last season.

Only 3 points more than the combined total of the top 4 in both Spain and Germany - equal on 122.

Hardly convincing evidence that the other leagues are dominated by just the elite.

A look further down the league tables suggests the strength lies in the other two leagues as well.

In the last 3 seasons 5 teams from Spain have made the semi-finals of the Europa League, winning it twice.

Just the 1 English representative here - Chelsea again.

In the week that Hull City crashed out before the group stages even begun, it was another reminder of what little success English clubs have had of late compared to their Spanish counterparts.

It’s not all grim reading of course.

The likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal are still up there with the best in the world.

Likewise players such as Angel DiMaria, Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez.

Even the clubs that have competed in the Europa League from England are good clubs who have had success in the past.

All pointing to England’s elite competition being one of the best in the world.

But that’s not being questioned.

The English League is no doubt up there with the best in the world.

It may be that it’s just not the premier league...