For some reason, since his arrival at Arsenal, Danny Welbeck has draw comparisons from some people with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. The traits that apparently group them in the same category are the fact that he was struggling for form with his former club, we bought him at a relatively young age, he has pace to burn and the fact that he is now playing for a manager who will have faith in him.
But if you compare Danny Welbeck to Thierry Henry on that basis, then you could easily have said the same about a whole load of players.
They’re two completely different players – Thierry was an artist, a player who was the conductor in a beautiful orchestra who could produce moments of brilliance on a consistent basis. Danny Welbeck is a warrior, a player who holds the ball up and brings others into play better than Titi ever could. He also never stops running and his desire is infectious on the rest of the team.
Watching Danny Welbeck score a well-deserved hat trick against Galatasaray last night however, it was clear that he does remind me of a former Arsenal striker, but it wasn’t Thierry Henry.
It was Ian Wright.
Seeing Danny Welbeck’s performance last night was like going back 20 years and seeing Ian Wright destroy defences with his pace, passion and 110% commitment. The finishes were instinctive, and Ian Wright was certainly that – probably one of the best instinctive finishers we’ve ever seen at Arsenal – and Welbeck looked like that last night.
It was the sheer desire from Welbeck, as well as his finishing, hold up play which reminded me of Arsenal’s former number eight.
He was getting into goalscoring positions and his goals were Ian Wright-esque.
We haven’t found another Thierry Henry, we’ve found another Ian Wright.