Danny Welbeck is not as injury prone as Brighton fans think

At risk of jinxing Danny Welbeck ahead of the 2023-24 Premier League season… it is time we talked about Dat Guy, his fitness record and this reputation he has for being injury prone.

Along with disappointment at Deniz Undav never finding a kebab he liked in Brighton, the most common reaction to the German striker departing on loan for Stuttgart was that it leaves the Albion short of centre forward options.

Yes, Roberto De Zerbi only tends to play one out-and-out striker in his 4-2-3-1. And yes, Brighton have three players vying for that one spot – Evan Ferguson, Joao Pedro and Welbeck.

And yes, you do not need to be a mathematician to see that three options for one position appears more than enough choice. Not to mention that Simon Adingra played through the middle on occasions last season for Union Saint-Gilloise and Julio Enciso could be used as a false nine.

How then are Brighton short? The answer is apparently because Danny Welbeck will spend a lot of time on the injury list, leaving De Zerbi with just Ferguson and Pedro to choose between.

The extent of Welbeck’s fitness issues varies depending on who you speak to. All of two minutes of research on Twitter throws up a range of different predictions; according to the medical experts on social media, Dat Guy could miss three weeks, 10 matches, half the season or six months.

Such predictions of doom and gloom are presumably based on what happened to Danny Welbeck between April 2015 and October 2021, when he suffered frequent injury problems.

Dat Guy missed 10 months of action between April 2015 and February 2016 whilst at Arsenal with a patella problem eventually requiring knee surgery.

Three months later and cartilage damage sidelined Welbeck from May 2016 until January 2017 via another knee surgery. The 2017-18 campaign brought a toe injury, a hip injury and a groin issue.

Welbeck made his last appearances for the Gunners in November 2018, spending the next six months ruled out with an ankle injury before his release. He made 126 appearances for Arsenal and missed 123 matches through injury.

Watford was Dat Guy’s next destination. He played 20 times for the Hornets in the 2019-20 season and was ruled out for three months between October and January with another hamstring issue.

The Albion signed Welbeck a month into the 2020-21 campaign. There was a knee injury in January followed by a minor hamstring problem picked up in the penultimate match of the season when champions Manchester City were famously beaten 3-2 at the Amex.

Welbeck’s return at the start of the 2021-22 season was short lived. Major hamstring injury number three in October 2021 ruled him out again, at which point Brighton decided to operate. More on that in a minute.

With a record of four major injuries in six seasons along with four minor problems totalling nearly three years out, it is little wonder Welbeck has a reputation for fitness issues.

Brighton theorised that most of Dat Guy’s problems stemmed from those hamstrings. Hence the October 2021 operation, which the Albion hoped could help alleviate Welbeck’s injury issues once and for all.

Graham Potter said when Welbeck went under the knife: “It has been ongoing and in the end, surgery seemed to be the best solution for him.”

“Obviously it’s devastating for Danny and for us but he has had surgery, all is well and he will be back stronger than ever, I think. It is just going to take a bit of time for that to happen.”

Surgery and rehab meant Welbeck missed 10 games between drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace in September and December’s home defeat against Wolves. Brighton did not win a single Premier League match during his absence.

Welbeck’s return coincided with the Albion ending that barren run with Boxing Day victory against Brentford. Brighton’s form was better in the second half of the season with Dat Guy available, but more importantly he has barely missed a game since.

Dat Guy played in 21 of the 22 league games from Boxing Day onwards, the only fixture he was not involved in being when an unused substitute in the 3-2 win at Everton in January.

In 2022-23, Welbeck missed only six Premier League games. He played in all five of the Albion’s matches in the FA Cup. Can a player who has been available for 53 out of the past 60 league matches be called injury prone?

Successful hamstring surgery is only part of the reason as to why Danny Welbeck has been less susceptible to injury. Brighton have also become much more adept at managing his game time.

Following his appointment as Brighton manager, De Zerbi rotated Welbeck and Leandro Trossard through the middle until the Vampire of Genk forced through a £27 million move to Arsenal.

The emergence of Ferguson allowed De Zerbi to frequently switch between the Irish teen sensation and Welbeck in the second half of the campaign.

Welbeck now benefits from the combination of being the fittest and strongest he has been since bursting onto the scene at Manchester United and Brighton knowing how to make him tick.

He has gone from a player who might feature for half a Premier League season to one who misses only a handful of games. That is good news for Brighton, given the cold hard evidence of results being better with Welbeck in the team proves he is a vital player for the Albion.

And it is why the Albion felt confident enough in their options to allow Undav to head to Germany. Because Welbz is Dat Guy.

Disclaimer: WAB accepts no liability in the now totally predictable event of Danny Welbeck limping out of Brighton v Luton Town on the opening day of the 2023-24 season with an injury which rules him out for the next nine months.