A celebration of the striker who scores in every way that matters.
Danny Welbeck’s not flashy. Not really.
You won’t catch him launching a lifestyle range, nor live-streaming his lunch. But give him the ball in a tight space, within spitting distance of the goal, and the man delivers like he’s on an Amazon shift in the run-up to Christmas.
In total, Dat Guy has scored 32 goals for the Albion, and there’s plenty more to come.
And when you analyse his goals, a very clear picture emerges: he can score from pretty much anywhere. Here’s the breakdown:
10 goals: Right foot, inside the 18-yard box (4 in the 6-yard box)
6 goals: Left foot, inside the 18-yard box (2 in the 6-yard box)
11 goals: Headers inside the 18-yard box (5 in the 6-yard box)
4 goals: Right foot, outside the box (including 1 free kick)
1 goal: Left foot, outside the box
That’s 26 of 31 goals inside the 18-yard box, with 11 of them inside the six-yard box — the kind of fox-in-the-box goals strikers used to be proud of before everyone got obsessed with heat maps and “involvements.”
The Anti-Highlight-Reel Striker Welbeck doesn’t score too many goals that get clipped up by TikTok accounts with lo-fi soundtracks. He scores goals that happen because he was there, because he sniffed it out, because he moved early, or because he simply refused to stand still when everyone else did.
Welbeck’s goals are rarely complicated. They’re clever. Smart movement. Clinical touch. And a sixth sense for arriving in places that defenders forget to cover because the pass didn’t seem on — until it was.
Headers? Underrated.
Left foot? Reliable.
Right foot? Lethal.
Let’s talk headers. 11 of them. Half of those inside the six-yard box. Not bad for a player who doesn’t scream “target man” in the conventional sense, but has the timing of a metronome and the neck muscles of a heavyweight boxer.
Welbeck’s right foot leads the way (14 total), but the left has chipped in (7 goals), and when he gets a yard outside the box? He’s got 5 goals from range, including one direct free kick — because of course he has.
He’s quietly done a bit of everything. He’s not a 20-Goal Striker. Not now, not ever. But his game is about so much more than just goals. Welbeck’s not here to chase Golden Boots. When he plays, he makes us tick.
To be the late option, the experienced head, the man who turns a half-chance into a match-winner. And when fit, he’s still one of the smartest forwards we’ve ever seen in the blue and white stripes.
He might not trouble the top of the Premier League scoring charts, but he does something better: He scores reliable, ugly, clever, close-range, point-winning goals. And in a squad built on exciting, yet naive, youth, sometimes what you really need is a veteran who still scores like it’s 2009 and he’s just ghosted in at the back post at Old Trafford.
Danny Welbeck. Not the loudest. Not the flashiest. Just a man who gets the job done with the minimum of fuss.
Images courtesy of Reuters
