There’s little doubt about who’s in charge of Manchester United these days, as new manager Louis Van Gaal spent the summer transforming the Red Devils into a team fit to his image of what soccer is all about. It meant ushering 14 players out the doors of Old Trafford, many of whom were part of the culture of moving youth players up to the first team.
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No one was a bigger example of that than striker Danny Welbeck, who had been at his native club since he was nine years old. Welbeck was seen as an excess by Van Gaal, and signed for rival Arsenal for a £16 million fee on the final day of the transfer window.
When asked about that move, Van Gaal simply stated that Welbeck ‘wasn’t good enough” to make it at Manchester United.
According to The Daily Mail in the UK, Van Gaal went on to compare the striker to the two first-team selections—Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie. He also said everyone was given a chance to impress and Welbeck didn’t do that for him.
“I have given all the players a chance to convince me of their qualities,” said Van Gaal. ‘When you ask about Danny Welbeck, he was here since the age of nine and after Sunderland (on loan) he played three seasons at United but he doesn’t have the record of Van Persie or Rooney and that’s the standard. That’s why we let him go.”
By the pure numbers, Welbeck was far behind the two stars, but few players are on the level of Rooney and Van Persie around the globe, let alone at Manchester United.
Welbeck has scored 29 goals in 142 appearances for Manchester United, and over the last few seasons the trio have played a lot of soccer. Since 2012, Welbeck has played in 52 matches with 10 goals and five assists to his name, while playing just about half the minutes of Rooney and Van Persie. Those two scored 29 and 38 goals in 56 and 59 appearances respectively.
It remains to be seen if ushering Welbeck out for Radamel Falcao will work, but it’s clear that Van Gaal has some strong opinions and when that happens there’s little changing of his mind.