MANCHESTER, England (AP) — At the age of 35 and in the form of his life, England may have found the unlikely answer to a decade-long problem just in time for the World Cup.
Whether coach Thomas Tuchel takes a chance on a veteran striker who hasn’t played for his country for eight years, is a question that’s growing ever louder.
“You can’t not take him if he’s doing what he’s doing now at the end of the season,” England great Rio Ferdinand told watchers of his YouTube channel last month when Brighton’s Danny Welbeck was overlooked by the national team again.
Welbeck’s best days were supposed to be behind him. A product of Manchester United’s famed youth academy, he went on to join Arsenal. A Premier League title and FA Cup winner, he was part of England squads at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
But the last of his 42 caps came in September 2018 and, after injuries and free transfers to Watford and Brighton, his career trajectory appeared to be in decline.
Or perhaps not.
With 13 goals this term, Welbeck is having his most prolific Premier League season. No other Englishman in England’s top flight has scored more.
Harry Kane and Mason Greenwood are the only Englishmen to have outscored him across Europe’s top leagues.
That, in itself, speaks to the longstanding problem England has had in attack.
Kane, the nation’s all-time record goal-scorer, has been England’s standout player for a decade. He is the captain and has been the focal point of a team that reached back-to-back European Championship finals and the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup. But finding an effective backup has been near-impossible.
From Jamie Vardy to Ivan Toney, 10 strikers have made their England debuts since Kane’s first cap in 2015. No one has come close to displacing him.
Finding an alternative to ease the strain on Kane’s aging limbs, he turns 33 in July, has been problematic.
Ollie Watkins has proved the best option from the substitutes’ bench, memorably scoring a dramatic late winner against the Netherlands in the semifinals of the Euros in 2024. While his form has dipped this season, a recent goal surge of seven in eight games could have come at the right time for his World Cup ambitions.
Marcus Rashford has also played the role as backup, but his preferred position is on the left of the attack.
England’s issue has been the need to alter its style of play in the absence of Kane, who has the unusual role of dropping deep to act as playmaker, while also being his country’s most lethal finisher.
There is barely anyone like Bayern Munich striker Kane in world soccer, let alone England.
With 56 goals in 48 games this season, he has fired Bayern to the German title and the semifinals of the Champions League. He has also led England to the World Cup with a 100% qualifying record, and without conceding a goal.
It is generally accepted that Tuchel will not find another Kane ahead of the June-July tournament. Rather it is a case of finding an adequate and effective backup, which is where Welbeck comes in, with growing calls for him to be included in the squad.
“He’s been scoring goals, but it’s not just his goal-scoring, it’s his hold-up play, his work-rate and his experience,” another England great, Wayne Rooney, told his podcast recently. “He’s probably the best English striker this season in the Premier League.”
The statistics back that up, with Welbeck’s latest goal coming as a sub in Brighton’s 3-0 win against Chelsea on Tuesday.
Given his age, Ferdinand believes Welbeck will also bring the right attitude to a squad that will be together for more than six weeks if England goes all the way to the final of the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Ferdinand described Welbeck as “someone who’s actually happy to be just a bit-part player, (who) knows he’s going to get 20 minutes here and there.”
Tuchel’s decision to leave Welbeck out of his latest squad last month raised eyebrows with Dominic Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both included instead.
“For me, I have to control what I can control,” Welbeck told the BBC last month. “It’s really nice that my name is being mentioned with that, that’s a positive for me. But I don’t like to give energy to things that I can’t control.”
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
