Welbeck loves working with 'special' head coach

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Striker says he's become a better player under De Zerbi.

Bruce Talbot

2023-04-22T06:00:00Z

Danny Welbeck won the Emirates FA Cup with Arsenal in 2017.

Danny Welbeck says he is benefitting from playing under a ‘special manager’ at this stage of his career.

The striker faces his former club Manchester United tomorrow, where he made 142 appearances, scoring 29 goals.

Welbeck, 32, has played under some legendary managers including Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger and he heads to Wembley convinced Albion can only get even better under Roberto De Zerbi.

“It’s very enjoyable, he’s a special manager,” said Welbeck. “I’ve been lucky enough to play under some great managers. He pushes you 100 per cent and it’s refreshing to have at this stage of my career, to learn these new things, take them on board and hopefully become an even better player.

"It's great to see the passion and how much football means to him and how he wants his team to play. That energy he gives off rubs off onto the players. The players then want to be on board, take everything he says and excel, while giving you that freedom to go out and do what you want in certain situations.”

Not only is Welbeck learning different roles but he and the other experienced players in the squad like Adam Lallana, Pascal Gross and Lewis Dunk have an important role as mentors for the younger players.

“We’re playing a different style so you might not find yourself in the No.9 position because you might be coming from deep. You’ve got to learn different ways to affect the game and try to add little things to it. It has opened my eyes to different situations in football.

“It’s not difficult, it’s football. There’s always new things to learn from the manager and the coaching staff. Taking that on board is going to be beneficial to the younger players in their career when they play for different managers.”

Evan Ferguson has praised Welbeck’s role in his development this season but for his teammate that is all part of the role of a senior pro.

“We have got experience of a lot of different situations within the game, and on and off the pitch we’re always there to give advice. I had it when I was coming through as a young player, to listen to them was invaluable,” added Welbeck.

“I’ve been in Evan’s shoes, coming through into a first-team squad and to have that older pro to speak to about certain things, positions, runs and stuff like that, I’m always there to help. Evan has been training with us for over a year before he made his debut. He has been fantastic since he got into the team.”

Welbeck insists the players will enjoy the Wembley occasion tomorrow, when over 34,000 Albion fans will get behind the team.

“With Roberto nobody will be affected, you can see with the way we’ve gone to different stadiums this season and performed well. Everybody knows that once we’re on that pitch what our jobs are.

“The group is strong mentally and we’ll all make sure we’ll be there for each other, if somebody needs a little arm round them they’ll get that too. We’ll fight for each other on the pitch until the end. Going to Wembley is a challenge we will relish.”