Date: 24th February 2011 at 3:37pm
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"Don't ask me" tough decisions ahead for the young striker

"Don't ask me" tough decisions ahead for the young striker

United’s Danny Welbeck is considering making the switch from England to Ghana on the international stage according to various reports.

Welbeck currently on loan at Sunderland has Ghanaian parents so would be eligible to play for the Black Stars- as well as the Black Cat’s- sorry. Although the young striker has represented England at every level bar full international he could still play for Ghana if he wished to.

Welbeck would only be ineligible if he’d played a competitive match for the England first team, something which the Longsight born youngster has yet to do.

Ghanaian internationals, Asamoah Gyan and John Mensah, who are both at Sunderland have apparently been trying to convince Welbeck to defect to their national side, although he’s yet to make up his mind.

Gyan said:

“We have to pursue him to play for the national team but I cannot decide for him. If he comes to the national I will be happy to play with Danny.

“He will decide but for now the ball is in his court. He loves Ghana and watches our matches but said they are few things for him to decide on so we have to wait.”

Another of Welbeck’s team mates- the defender Nedum Onuoha, who’s on-loan from Manchester City- has stated he’d consider playing for Nigeria if he was called up to the World Cup by them, despite having represented England at youth and Under-21 level.

Welback  has been in fine form for Sunderland this season, bagging six League goals and were it not for an injury sustained a few weeks ago, he would have been called up for the England friendly against Hungary.

Fabio Capello said at the time of the friendly: ‘”Welbeck is another interesting player.

“‘He and [Andy]Carroll are two young players we monitored but both are now injured.”

The Ghana FA is making a concerted effort to convince Welbeck to join their side, with Assistant Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah meeting with the youngster recently.

Welbeck has yet to make a decision  but I for one feel he would be rather foolish to join the Ghanaian national side.

I’ve got nothing against Ghana, during the World Cup I attended the Ghana Germany game in Soccer City and wore a Black Stars flag on my back, as my friends and I embarked on a bit of ABG -Anyone But Germany. Strangely we weren’t the only England fans in the ground that night, doing exactly the same.

Despite Ghana’s strong showing in the World Cup and England’s abysmal one, there’s no denying that in the future you’d expect The Three Lions to fare a little better than the Black Stars- although it’s by no means certain.

Welbeck may have been impressed with what Ghana achieved in South Africa but he shouldn’t let that cloud his judgment into thinking his international chance of success would be better served with the Ghanaians.

The main reason, one would imagine that Welbeck, felt it beneficial to jump ship from England to Ghana would arguably be the guarantee of being one of the first choice strikers, something he may feel is far from assured with Capello’s side.

Well, at the moment he may be right, but in future I genuinely think Welbeck could become an England regular. There’s a serious shortage of decent English strikers available at the moment and you only have to cast your eye over recent England caps to see that.

Jay Bothroyd and Kevin Davies are the two names that automatically spring to mind, when highlighting just how bereft of attacking options England are.

Add to that duo, the fact that Jermaine Defoe, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch have the same amount of EPL goals between all three of them, that Welbeck has on his own- and you can see how optimistic the Mancunian must be.

There’s probably never been a better time to be a young English striker if you’re looking to break into the national side, as other than Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent, there’s a real lack  of quality for Capello to chose from.

When it takes Emile Heskey to retire- rather than being dropped- from international football- then you know that something’s far from right. It seems that any striker who’s English and has scored a goal in any of the top two domestic tiers is now a viable option for the national side.

There’s a real buzz about the future of England- mainly due to the form of Jack Wilshere -as many believe the new generation of players could finally achieve what hasn’t been done since ’66.

With players, such as Wilshere, Tom Cleverley, Kieran Gibbs and Chris Smalling knocking on the England door, it seems Welbeck- who’s played with all of them at Under 21 level- would be the natural choice as striker to make the step up.

Although you could argue, does it really matter if Welbeck plays for a different country, I’d say that it does. Being part of the England set-up, when you play in this country and have been born and bred here, is the best thing for your international career. Not only does it make the most sense logically, but also playing on the international stage with some of your club team mates, and your league rivals can’t be a bad thing for your club career.

I’m a big fan of Welbeck and have been enjoying watching him shine at Sunderland, it’s a shame he picked up his latest injury when he did.

Next season I fully expect Welbeck to be recalled to United as our fourth-choice striker – or joint third with Chicharito. If he’s given the chance and he continues to progress there’s no reason why by the time of Euro 2012, Welbeck can’t be an integral part of both the United and England set-up.

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One response to “Welbeck Switch May Be A Little Hasty”

  1. JJS says:

    Why should he go and sit and be fourth fiddle when he has the ability to be as good as anyone in the premier league? you seen where this got jonny evans, he was brilliant at sunderland and went to man u and now is fourth choice centre back. It gets him nowhere, it would get welbeck nowhere, i hope for his sake he says he deosnt want to play for united.