England manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that he recommended Danny Welbeck to Arsene Wenger.

Hodgson, who claims he is closer to Wenger than most other managers, sad that the Arsenal man phoned him up to seek his advice prior to purchasing Welbeck from Manchester United during the summer.

Already surpassing the number of games that he played for United last season, Welbz has become a fan favourite with Gooners helped, in no small part, by his goal against his former side in the FA Cup coupled with his relentless work rate and desire.

Still a bit iffy in front of goal, the 24-year-old is a player that certainly makes things happen and Hodgson is delighted to see him finally getting a chance at playing regularly.

Hodgson told the media

‘Arsene and I speak more often than most managers as he always comes up to the directors’ box at Arsenal and I speak to him very often. And we spoke of course before he signed Danny. I was singing Danny’s praise so I’m delighted that Arsene has seen that my judgement wasn’t wrong and that he shares that judgement.

‘We like Danny very much. We’ve always shown faith in Danny. Many times he’s been selected by me and my staff when he was not actually playing for Manchester United. Sometimes he’s not even been on the bench and yet still we’ ve selected him because we think he has the qualities required.

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

‘And what Danny really needs is the faith of his manager, which he obviously has 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 and Arsenal were lucky enough to see the other night when he played at Monaco. I thought he was really, really good.’

Arsene has used him and he’s played quite a lot of games if you compare it to the games he played for Man United. With us he’s always done what I think is a very, very good job for the team. There aren’t many times when he’s played for England where I’ve been disappointed in him or in his work rate or desire. But of course it would be great if he gets himself as one of the first names on the Arsenal team sheet and play for them every week, that would be a bonus certainly for him and it won’t do us any harm.

‘I’m pretty sure he must have benefitted (from Wenger’s confidence in him). But it’s not something that has struck me like a bolt of lightning, that’s for sure. When he’s come with us he’s not lacked confidence ever. He knows what we want from him. And he knows that he can deliver what we want from him. He knows that we believe in him. I’ve never felt he’s ever come to us with a massive lack of confidence.’

As we now enter an international break, Danny will get the chance, once again, to show what he can do on the biggest stage.