England boss Roy Hodgson has revealed his role in Danny Welbeck’s £16million summer switch from Manchester United to Arsenal
Hodgson’s glowing testimony of the 24-year-old striker was taken into account by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger and now Hodgson is hoping the Three Lions can reap the dividends in the European Championships.
England face Lithuania at Wembley on Friday looking to extend their 100 per cent record in the qualifying campaign.
Welbeck will be central to that desire as England home in on next year’s finals in France.
Hodgson believes Welbeck’s career is blossoming under Wenger, while at Old Trafford he wasn’t always appreciated and was allowed to leave once Radamel Falcao has been signed on loan.
The England manager said: “Arsene and I speak more often than most. We spoke of course before he signed Danny. I was singing Danny’s praises, so I’m delighted Arsene has seen that my judgment wasn’t wrong and that he shares that judgment.
“We like Danny very much. We’ve always shown faith in Danny. Many times he’s been selected by me and my staff and he’s not actually been playing for Manchester United and yet still we’ve selected him because he’s got the qualities required.
“And what he really needs now is the faith of his manager – which he’s obviously got from Arsene – to get more games, and then I think we’ll see more and more performances from him that we’ve been lucky enough to see with England.
“He’s played quite a lot of games for Arsenal if you compare it to the number of games he was playing at Man United.
“With us, he’s always done what I think is a very, very good job for the team. There’s not many times he’s played for England when I’ve been disappointed in him.”
Hodgson doesn’t believe the Premier League’s wipe-out in Europe this season will impact on England’s France 2016 ambitions. He admitted: “When we talk about English teams in the Champions League, we’re not talking about very many English players, if we’re being perfectly honest.
“We’re talking three, four or five English players involved at most and what’s more, they’re all shoe-ins for us anyway.
“When I watch Chelsea play or Manchester City play against Barcelona, I’m only watching two or three players from my selfish point of view.”
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