Arsenal and Danny Welbeck: The time had come

Danny Welbeck will leave Arsenal at the expiration of his contract this summer. While it is sad to see him leave, the time had come for his exit.

Injuries are horrible. Obviously, there is the physical pain of suffering the injury in the first place, the process of the surgery and the rehabilitation. But what is more torturing is the mental impact of having to miss out on playing because of something that is out of your control. Add to the fact that it ruins careers, and it is easy to see why injuries are the bane of professional sport.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Death, Decay, Despair

Sadly, though, professional clubs do not have the capacity to be merciful. They must act clinically, almost ruthlessly and harshly, when it comes to the building of their squads. And that often includes plenty of decisions regarding injured or frequently injured players.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Arsenal have long been on the wrong side of this coin. They waited far too long for Jack Wilshere or Abou Diaby or Santi Cazorla or even, to an extent, Laurent Koscielny, to prove that they could be fit for a full season — and in Wilshere and Diaby’s case, fit at all — and did not need replacing or supporting. And there are plenty of other examples.

But this summer, it seems as though the Gunners may be changing tack slightly. This was hinted at last summer when Wilshere was allowed to leave and is being continued now, in very similar circumstances. This time, it is Danny Welbeck whose contract is set to expire.

The striker has missed much of the season after suffering a nasty ankle injury in November, making just 14 appearances in total. Unai Emery confirmed at the weekend that he would leave when his contract runs out.

Welbeck has grown into a valuable part of the squad. Although he has never quite convinced as a starter, his versatility, work rate, deceptive goal output and high-pressing make him the ideal third-choice centre-forward. That may not be the flashiest of roles, but it is still an extremely useful one.

However, one thing that consistently undermined Welbeck’s utility was his injury record. Between September 2015 and January 2017, he suffered two different major knee injuries, the first requiring surgery, the second causing serious damage to his cartilage. In total, he missed 392 days and 59 first-team matches.

This season, Welbeck has been absent for the majority of the year. And there is no guarantee that he will be ready for the start of the next campaign either. It is also questioned what state he will return in given the severity of the injury to his ankles. Availability is important and Welbeck simply has not been available.

His departure does leave Arsenal a little light in the centre-forward position and it is sad to see a popular, useful play exit. However, the time to move on had come. That, evidently, is the conclusion of Emery and the club too.