Danny Welbeck went from unhappy winger to Brighton's record Premier League scorer
Danny Welbeck left Manchester United in 2014 complaining he had spent too long out on the left and wanted to lead the line instead. A decade and three clubs later, the Manchester-born forward had become Brighton & Hove Albion's all-time top scorer in the Premier League.
Born in Manchester on 26 November 1990 to parents from Ghana, he grew up in Longsight. United first noticed him at six and signed him after he shone at eight for Fletcher Moss Rangers. He coped with Osgood-Schlatter disease as a youngster and helped the under-18s reach an FA Youth Cup final while two years younger than some teammates.
His first outing for the senior side, a friendly in Saudi Arabia in January 2008, ended with him skying a last-minute penalty over the bar. His Premier League debut that November went better: a curling shot from 30 yards in a 5-0 rout of Stoke. Loans at Preston, cut short by knee surgery, and at Sunderland came before he became a regular at United from 2011-12. In February 2013 his header at the Bernabéu made him the first Englishman to score there for a Premier League side since Alan Smith in 2001.
After what he called his unhappiest season, he moved to Arsenal late on deadline day, 2 September 2014, for £16 million, having scored 29 goals in 142 United appearances. Louis van Gaal explained the sale by saying Welbeck lacked the record of Robin van Persie or Wayne Rooney. Within weeks Welbeck struck the first hat-trick of his career, against Galatasaray, and in March 2015 his goal at Old Trafford knocked United out of the FA Cup, though injury kept him out of the final Arsenal went on to win.
Released by Arsenal, he joined Watford in August 2019 and Brighton a year later, and now plays for Chelsea. For England he won 42 caps, opening his account with the only goal of a friendly against Belgium in June 2012 and playing at Euro 2012 and the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
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