Natural born thriller

“He’s got a talent as good as anyone in the game. He’s confident, intelligent and he’s certainly got the technical skills. He has a great belief in himself.”

That’s the kind of glowing judgement any player at any level would be proud of; and Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t a man to give praise lightly or to get it wrong too often. So the most interesting thing to know about that particular quotation, made by the great man in 2011, is that the Manchester United manager isn’t referring to Wayne Rooney, or Javier Hernandez or Dimitar Berbatov. He’s talking about Danny Welbeck.

Welbeck, even after scoring his first goal for England in their Euro 2012 warm-up match against Belgium, doesn’t appear to be a name that gets too many fans excited or who gets the hands of headline-writers sweating in anticipation. But he could yet turn out to be the missing link that has eluded England for so long; the perfect foil for Rooney and an international-quality striker with the football intelligence to make Roy Hodgson’s side more than just a one-man team.

As England prepare to face Sweden in Kiev today, a match they are desperate to win after being held to a 1-1 draw by France in the opening fixture of Group D, even Hodgson has admitted his side are badly missing Rooney, the one world class creative player in the squad who can make a difference on the big stage.

But there’s something about Welbeck that could eventually make England fans happy at the way things have turned out; happy that fate transpired to give him his chance; because even if he’s not yet the kind of star that sells Panini stickers, features on advertising hoardings or models the latest football kit, Welbeck looks made for international football.

On the face of it his goalscoring record isn’t all that exceptional; 16 goals in 64 Premier League starts for Manchester United and Sunderland, where he spent an important season on loan before coming back to claim a surprise place in the United first team this year.

But his technique, his hold-up play and in particular his movement have had coaches purring even if the statistics to analyse those particular aspects of a player’s game have yet to be invented.

Ferguson, in fact, tipped Welbeck for the England squad as long ago as the World Cup in 2010, surprising many pundits because at that stage the striker was still out on loan and didn’t appear to be in United’s first team plans. But he clearly knew this was a player who would adapt seamlessly to international football.

There have been players like that in the past for England; players like Nicky Barmby, Darren Anderton and David Platt who took no time at all to look at home on the international stage and who, in fact, often looked better players in international competition than they did in English league football.

“It’s always good to hear positive (things) from your manager,” said Welbeck, who is likely to partner Ashley Young against Sweden today and then play in tandem with Rooney for England’s final group match against the Ukraine in Donetsk, when reminded of the quote.

“Sir Alex has shown a lot of faith in me; he’s always been there for me to me to go for advice. To have him there looking over me is really beneficial. But Wayne has been great with me too. He’s always there giving me advice, on and off the pitch, before the game and also at half-time. He lets you know what to do; if he’s seen a weakness in the opposition for instance he’ll tell you to take advantage.

“We all know the passion that Wayne’s got for football and obviously, he’s itching to get out on the pitch. It’s just going to be better for us once the suspension’s gone and he can come and play for us against Ukraine.”

The Rooney-Welbeck combination is one that should excite England fans, even if so far all the focus has been on goalkeeper Joe Hart and his hard-working defence rather than on any creative input during Hodgson’s first three matches, of which two have ended 1-0 and the other 1-1. But even on his own Welbeck showed immense promise against France as well as a willingness to learn.

“I was quite isolated at times against France but, I think, at that level of football, you’re not really going to get as much possession of the ball that you’re used to,” he said. “You’ve got to take it in your stride and once you do get the ball, try to move the ball and bring others into play.

“I want to keep developing my game and get as far as I can. I’m not scared of playing for England. I’m used the expectation at United, you are expected to produce that moment of quality. Once I get an opportunity against Sweden I’ll be looking to put it away.”

Welbeck is encouragingly mature for a 22-year-old and shows none of the signs of ego or brashness that have tripped up other young strikers over the years; and the fact he is being schooled at United, alongside Rooney and alongside Ashley Young, is an extra reason to believe England will improve, not just during this tournament but ahead in the World Cup qualifiers for Brazil, too.

“Wayne and Ashley are really creative players and as I’ve been training with them day in day out — Wayne for a coupe of years and Ashley just this season with United, we’ve developed a really good understanding and it’s only going to grow. I hope we can keep getting better and improving. We train together all the time, we know each other’s game and now it’s pretty much instinctive.”

If those three players can remain together over the coming years then England won’t always be seen as the international version of Chelsea taking on Barcelona; but Welbeck’s progress is the real key to how they survive in the forthcoming games. He may not be a poster boy just yet; but Sweden and Ukraine would be foolish to underestimate him.