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...

Mark's Noble Decision

Mark Noble is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland.

He was born in England.

He has played for England.

He has even captained England.

But his Grandparents are Irish.

According to FIFA, this makes him eligible.

It’s that simple.

If Mark was to play for the Republic of Ireland in their next game against Gibraltar - nobody could have a problem.

Not the English FA.

Not the FA of Ireland.

Neither UEFA nor FIFA.

Nobody could have a problem at all.

Nobody except Mark that is.

After all is said and done, with rulebooks checked and applications processed, there remains only one simple hurdle in the path of the player playing for the birth country of his Grandparents.

Mark Noble does not want to play for the Republic of Ireland.

Or perhaps more pertinently, Mark Noble does not want to play for the Republic of Ireland, yet.

And it’s the use of the word ‘yet’ that has turned this story into a debate.

Dave Kitson was available to represent the Irish national side.

He made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t feel Irish and didn’t feel it would be right to play for Ireland.

He falls into the category of ‘not wanting to play for Ireland’.

So too, do Zat Knight, Anton Ferdinand and Curtis Davis.

All players eligible to play for Ireland.

All players who’d rather have represented their country of birth and were prepared to finish their careers uncapped than represent the birth country of a member of their family.

The difference between all of them and Mark of course, is the little word ‘yet’.

Mark has already told us he would rather play for England.

He has told us this for many years.

And for that he deserved respect.

He was biding his time for an opportunity.

But as the door opened with the retirement of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, it subsequently closed with the call-ups of Jack Colback and Fabian Delph.

This was the chance Mark had waited for.

Instead it went to two younger, fresher midfielders.

If Mark wants to play international football, he will most probably now have to switch allegiance.

A topic which is not unfamiliar.

The Republic of Ireland have benefited aplenty in the past.

Most nations have at some stage.

Only last year did a tug of war take place between Spain and Brazil for the services of Diego Costa.

The same Spain and Brazil who were favourites to lift the World Cup.

Diego had the opportunity to play for both and chose Spain.

He turned down the chance to play for Brazil in a World Cup in Brazil.

That’s how much he wanted to play for the Spanish national team.

Winners of the actual tournament Germany, had two Polish born players.

Runners-up Argentina had a Frenchman.

Third place Netherlands had players born in Portugal, Canada and Switzerland.

But for every Miroslav Klose, Lucas Podolski and Gonzalo Higuain - there is a Kevin Prince-Boateng.

Mercenary extraordinaire.

At the age of 27, he has amassed a grand total of fifteen caps for Ghana.

Seven of which came in World Cup tournaments.

Five in World Cup build up games.

And only three other ‘non World Cup related’ appearances.

You get the feeling if he was in Mark’s situation, he might wait until the Euro 2016 campaign starts to show more than just promise.

No show of national pride like in the case of Diego, who turned down the opportunity of playing for his country of birth at a World Cup in his country of birth.

You don’t get much more noble than that.

Not every switch of allegiance is as extreme a case of course.

For every Kevin-Prince, there is a Kevin Kilbane, a Clinton Morrison and a Paul Butler.

The question of Mark’s ability compared to these guys should be asked.

Not his ability on the football pitch mind.

His ability to affect the Irish squad.

Of which he can affect massively.

Just maybe not in a positive way.

Or just maybe not in a positive way, yet...