Arsenal shocked many when they signed Danny Welbeck from Manchester United in 2014.
The striker was known as a player with great potential but an unreliable presence in front of goal, something that could not be further from the truth right now.
Since signing for Brighton in 2020, the Englishman has found his love for football again, overcoming a flurry of injuries to find his best form under the watchful eye of Fabian Hurzeler.
It’s refreshing to see the 33-year-old high on confidence on the South Coast, with his resurgence something to behold following his Arsenal exit.
Danny Welbeck opens up on Arsenal injury
This season, the Englishman has scored six goals in only 11 appearances in the Premier League.
While many will look at Welbeck and see a player in form, it’s been a different story for the man himself, who has overcome so much to get to where he is now.
In a recent interview with The Times, the England international opened up about his injury struggles, pinpointing an injury sustained at Arsenal as a ‘crazy’ moment in his career.
“A fracture and dislocation, that was a bad one,” Welbeck said, describing the gruesome blow he sustained in 2018 against Sporting Lisbon.
“If you’d seen my ankle like, whoa, there were moments looking at it when it didn’t even look like my foot. Crazy.”
That evening, the striker left the pitch on a stretcher with his leg in a brace, which led to him missing 203 days and 41 Arsenal games on the road to recovery, as per Transfermarkt’s data.
Reliving the terrible injury, Welbeck recalled the pain he was in and the strain it put on his day-to-day life.
“It was painful, like really, really painful. When you start walking and putting pressure on it — I’m in too much pain here, I can’t even walk. But gradually it gets better. You see light at the end of the tunnel. And that’s where you keep pushing on, pushing on.”
Welbeck’s resurgence is admirable considering the low points that the Englishman has overcome in his career, where at 33, he’s now playing some of his best football.
Welbeck’s scoring record at Arsenal
While the forward was far from a prolific striker in North London, he was a well-loved figure around the Emirates for providing the club with some unforgettable moments.
- READ MORE: Remembering the key Danny Welbeck moment that should have seen Arsenal win Premier League title
Three spring to mind when revising Welbeck’s time at Arsenal, being his last-gasp winner against Leicester City, his Champions League hat-trick against Galatasaray and of course, the dagger he handed Manchester United in the FA Cup at Old Trafford.
Welbeck left Arsenal having scored 32 goals in 126 appearances, as well as contributing 13 assists in a period of his career that was heavily disrupted due to injury.
It’s difficult to look at the former Gunner now and not be happy for what he’s achieving at the Amex, a place that he’s able to call home.
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