As we edge closer to the January transfer window, rumours are starting to creep back into our newsfeeds. The Aaron Ramsey narrative is continuing to play itself out, but someone else has been rumoured to a move away from Arsenal. Danny Welbeck.
According to The Guardian, Welbeck could be heading to Crystal Palace for £10m. The striker has never been a first-choice striker at The Emirates. But in our quick-read analysis, we’ll show you what he offers to Unai Emery’s team.
The Numbers
What we see here, is a clear indication of Welbeck’s role at Arsenal. He’s a ‘super sub’ if you like. Not a player who needs to start every game but a very good option off the bench. Currently, this shouldn’t be underestimated by Arsenal fans. But why is that?
When we delve deeper into the stats we can see for Arsenal this season, Welbeck has five goals in 13 games. Initially that doesn’t look great. However, when we look at his minutes per goal ratio. It is something quite impressive.
On average this season, Welbeck has scored a goal every 115 minutes. So although he may not be the most glamorous striker, he does what he’s asked to do.
This looks even better when you compare it to the mins-per-goal ratio of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang:
Lacazette – A goal every 143 minutes.
Aubameyang – A goal every 102 minutes.
Here we can see that the former Manchester United striker isn’t really out of place with the main strikers at the club. With a similar return rate, there shouldn’t really be cause to ship him off quickly. Especially seeing as he’s the only striking option after Aubameyang and Lacazette.
More Than Goals
In a game that demands strikers to be the first line of defence, this also helps Welbeck’s claim to stay at Arsenal. Although with a pretty decent mins-per-goal record, Welbeck also brings work-rate off the ball.
A player that was often played out on the left under Arsene Wenger because of this, Welbeck’s defensive contribution is very commendable.
In the games he’s started (mostly in the Europa League) we can see a clear effort from Welbeck off the ball. With Emery being a coach that would like to see Arsenal press high up the pitch, this could be another part of the striker’s game that keeps him around.
Also when we see how many tackles Shkodran Mustafi attempts per game, we can see just how much Welbeck is getting himself about:
He’s just not a striker that will do his job, but one that will also play for the team. So maybe Arsenal should tell Palace to keep that £10m and keep Welbeck, possibly one of the more underrated players at the club.
