On international duty on deadline day at the end of the 2014 summer transfer window Danny Welbeck was at London Colney training with the England squad.

He arrived at training a Manchester United player, only to return to training the next day as an Arsenal player.

You can imagine the excitement of players around him, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers were all part of Roy Hodgson’s squad at the time, and were quick to welcome Welbeck to Arsenal. After scoring for England the following week, he ran to the side of the pitch to celebrate with Chambers and Oxlade-Chamberlain, who were warming up.

Moving club must be tricky, but Welbeck told the Arsenal Weekly podcast having familiar faces – also including Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott – who he knew from representing England made it easy to join and settle in after leaving Manchester United.

“It makes it easier for you because, like any situation in life, if you go somewhere and see a familiar face then you can obviously bond with them,” said the striker.

“Knowing the England boys from international duty and growing up with them in the youth teams made it easy. They integrate you into the group a lot easier with the other lads as well.”

“It was a new challenge but it was an exciting time for me to approach a new situation, move from Manchester to London and all of the stuff that goes with it.

“It was a whole new city, not completely new as I’d been to London before, but it was weird knowing that I was going to be calling London home and not Manchester.”

Leaving home after such a long time in Manchester couldn’t have been easy, but Welbeck still sees his family regularly.

“The thing that you miss the most is your family and that’s the most important thing. A lot of my family and friends do come to London to see me anyway. They come to all the home games so I get to see them quite a lot anyway.

“But I was leaving something that I knew after growing up in Manchester, coming to a new city, it’s an exciting period.”

It’s a massive shame that the forward is injured, as he could have played a huge role this season both wide and up front. Suffering from a knee injury, he hasn’t played since April.

Arsenal could do with him right now, and he will be eager to return to fitness soon to prove he is worth a place in Roy Hodgson’s European Championships squad in the summer.