Arsenal: The ruthless truth about Danny Welbeck’s utility

Danny Welbeck is likely set to miss the remainder of the season. There is a ruthless truth about the utility of the Arsenal striker: he is rarely available.

In the NFL, there is a saying about a player’s quality and value to their team: ‘your best ability is your availability.’ It is a little cheesy and obvious, but it does illustrate a very plain point about a team’s set up: any player is useless when they are in the physio room, whether it is their fault or not.

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Arsenal have experienced this with many different players. Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott. All had a great impact on the team when they played. But they played so infrequently that that impact was actually, in the grand scheme of things, quite small. And now one of the greatest examples of such feigned value is likely to miss the remainder of the season with yet another injury.

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Danny Welbeck suffered a horrific ankle injury in last week’s draw with Sporting CP in the Europa League. A timeline has not yet been publicly announced, but he has already undergone two surgeries and is widely expected to miss the rest of the season, such is the extent of the injury. Welbeck has stated that he will return stronger than ever and I do wish him all the best in his recovery, but it is unlikely that he will ever be the same player again, at least not for a few years.

For Arsenal, this is a third-choice striker, whose contract expires at the end of the season and has only topped 1000 minutes once since he signed in 2014, with his most active season being the 2011/12 campaign at Manchester United, where he played in a measly 2018 minutes. Welbeck has always suffered from injuries. This is just the latest in a long line.

And it demands a decision. Because his contract is in its final year, Arsenal could very plausibly choose to move on in the summer. There had been talk that that might happen anyway. Now, it only seems more likely.

In truth, it may be harsh to say, but it makes a lot of sense for the Gunners to move on from Welbeck. When he is fit, he is a very useful member to have in the squad. He is an experienced, versatile, veteran depth attacker who supports Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang nicely.

But he is fit so rarely that he does not actually help this team as much as his skill set would suggest he should. His ability and value are substantially hampered by the fact that he is so rarely and inconsistently available.

The time to move on from Welbeck has come. It is a ruthless, clinical decision, but it is one that Arsenal must take.