Manchester United have cycled through several managers since Sir Alex Ferguson won them their most recent Premier League title in 2013, with mixed levels of success
Darren Fletcher, Danny Welbeck, Antonio Valencia and Michael Keane training under Louis van Gaal(Image: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck is due to return to Old Trafford with Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday. The England international has been linked with a shock United return in the January transfer window after impressing on the south coast but there will be some who believe the Red Devils were wrong to let him leave to begin with.
A fan favourite after coming through the academy as a local lad, Welbeck scored on his Premier League debut for United as a teenager. After cutting his teeth during a couple of loan spells, he was brought firmly into the first-team set-up under Sir Alex Ferguson and scored nine league goals in 25 outings during David Moyes’ one season in charge.
The arrival of Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2014 ushered in a new era for the club, with squad members needing to prove their worth to the Dutch manager. Within a few weeks, though, Welbeck had all the information he needed to decide his future lay elsewhere.
Welbeck had been left frustrated during Moyes’ tenure, often being shunted out to the left wing. It was clear he would rather have played as a central striker, but – if he was to fill that role under Van Gaal – he wouldn’t be doing so as the manager’s first choice.
He didn’t start any of United’s first three league matches under the new boss, sitting out the defeat to Swansea and coming off the bench in draws with Sunderland and Burnley. In August 2014, reports emerged that Van Gaal had told Welbeck he could leave, though the manager remained cagey on the matter.
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“I know what I said to Danny and Danny knows exactly what I said to him,” Van Gaal said at the time. “I assume that Danny Welbeck is not saying anything about our conversation and also in that conversation was [the assistant manager] Ryan Giggs and he doesn’t say [anything] either, and that is the way it should be.”
As the transfer deadline neared, though, a fresh issue emerged for Welbeck. United swooped for Radamel Falcao, with the striker joining on a season-long loan from Monaco.
It was clear the Colombian wasn’t arriving as a fourth-choice striker behind Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Welbeck. The latter decided the time was right to move, joining Arsenal for £16million with barely any time to spare before the window shut.
Welbeck during his first season at Arsenal(Image: PA)
“It’s exciting times for me,” Welbeck said after moving to North London. “It’s great to be a part of this club and it’s a team that I’ve always watched in the Premier League. I’ve envisaged myself playing in this team before. For it to finally happen is very exciting.”
By the time Welbeck faced his old employers for the first time in November 2014, he had scored more goals than any of the strikers who stayed at Old Trafford. Even so, Van Gaal defended the sale in a pre-match press conference.
“I think that a player who is playing mostly fixed in the team, he develops and always will,” Van Gaal said. “He takes all the benefit from playing every week.
“That was a question mark with Manchester United. It’s good to see he’s doing what I thought. He could have also played for Manchester United. But we have decided that he could go and he has taken the benefit of it.”
However, Van Gaal’s compatriot and Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant Rene Meulensteen believed Ferguson would have never allowed Welbeck to leave. “You look back through the history of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and we were always keen on bringing young players through and giving them a chance,” said Meulensteen.
The striker has thrived at Brighton(Image: Jed Leicester/Shutterstock)
Welbeck’s time at Arsenal was beset by injuries which limited him to just 126 appearances in five years but he still scored some memorable goals including a last-gasp winner against Leicester in the 2015/16 season which briefly gave the Gunners hope of a title win.
A move to Watford in 2019 wasn’t the most fruitful, with the Hornets suffering relegation from the Premier League and allowing him to join Brighton after just one season at Vicarage Road. He has discovered some of the best form of his career on the south coast, though, and last season marked the first time he has scored double figures in a single Premier League campaign.
He already has eight goals this season at a rate of one every 140 minutes in the league, prompting speculation over a United return and even an England recall for the first time since 2018. There will still be some United fans left wondering what might have been had things been different for him under Van Gaal.
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