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Danny Welbeck is discussing his goalscoring debut in the Premier League as a 17-year-old substitute for Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United almost that many years ago.
“I’d been involved with the first team from the start of the season, in training sessions,” Welbeck says of the part he played in a 5-0 dismantling of Stoke City at Old Trafford in November 2008. “As a young kid growing up at United, it’s a dream to even train with these players.
“I’d been travelling to some games, and I think Sir Alex was giving me a bit more of a mentorship, where you’re going along to games, but you’re not in the squad, you’re not on the bench or anything, but you’re kind of just getting used to the process of professional football. It was an amazing time for me.
“I went to the (Stoke) game and I wasn’t even sure I’d be on the bench, and then it was the stuff of dreams when I came on and made my debut and scored as well.”
Welbeck made a stylish entry to elite level in illustrious company with a strike into the top corner from 25 yards. Cristiano Ronaldo (two) and Dimitar Berbatov were also on the scoresheet that Saturday in a starting line-up that also included Carlos Tevez, Nemanja Vidic, Edwin van der Sar, Michael Carrick and Patrice Evra.
Carrick, Scholes and Gary Neville were among Welbeck’s early United team-mates (Matthew Peters/Getty Images)
“It was an unbelievable opportunity,” Welbeck says in an exclusive interview. “To be around those players, the personalities, and to see them day in, day out. You’re training with them, you’re talking with them, and they’re giving you advice.
“You feel honoured and privileged to grow up in that environment. To come into the professional game under their guidance was incredible. I think it was really important for me to go through that and to see how these people are born winners. Everything they do is geared towards winning, and to see that at first hand was great for me. I still carry a lot of the stuff that I learnt back then with me now.”
Welbeck turns 35 in November. He is still going strong with Brighton & Hove Albion, his fifth Premier League club in a career which has included spells at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, Sunderland (on loan) and Watford, a Premier League title, two FA Cup wins, two League Cup final triumphs, 42 games and 16 goals for England and participation in two World Cups and a European Championship.
“It’s crazy how fast it goes,” says Welbeck, a senior voice in a Brighton dressing room brimming with youthful talent under their 32-year-old head coach Fabian Hurzeler. “When I was younger, when I was their age, the lads would say to me: ‘Really enjoy it because it just goes so fast’. It is true, it does go really quickly. I took in everything that they said back then. I think it’s important to have senior players in the dressing room: standards, experiences, just to pass on that sort of advice. The experience is invaluable and now I’ve fallen into that category.”
Welbeck sat in the Spanish sunshine in Marbella during pre-season to reflect with The Athletic on how his career has evolved. So much has changed since that winter’s afternoon at Old Trafford when he launched his lengthy top-flight career with an impact from the bench.
Pre-season preparations have clearly been transformed since Welbeck’s teenage years under Ferguson — he was still working this summer during a family holiday in Greece. He says: “(Ferguson) didn’t really give you a detailed summer plan. Football has evolved so much. Now, every single little detail. You get a lot of programmes that you can do throughout the summer to keep yourself in good condition. Back then, it just wasn’t to the standard of how it is today.
Ferguson gave Welbeck his senior debut, but no detailed summer training plans (Matthew Peters/Getty Images)
“I’d have the summer break, but I’d just be playing football with my mates. Stuff like that wasn’t as policed as it is today. I think you had more leeway to do what you wanted. When I was growing up, my summer breaks were always a lot shorter as well, because I usually had a tournament — England teams and stuff like that. I was only getting three weeks off at a time, and then you’re back to it anyway. You’re not losing too much fitness.
“Nowadays, when you go away with the family and you’ve got two young kids as well, it’s more difficult to find a football pitch and spend time away from the kids. It’s just getting to the gym. If you do have a pitch that’s nearby, you’ll try and use that. You still have to keep on top of things and use the gym when you can. Try and get those sessions in.”
Welbeck remains in prime condition to defy advancing years. He has always been disciplined with eating and drinking habits since his upbringing at United — lean meat or fish, home-cooked by his wife or mother, are staples. Brighton, in common with most elite-level clubs, take their own chef with them on away trips.
“Where I came from (at United), everybody was really on it with their food anyway, what they were taking in,” Welbeck says. “Drinking? Some players probably drink more than others. It’s fine when, after one of the holidays, you can have a bit more of a chill period. Then, when you get back to it, you know that it’s time to work.
“It’s definitely become a lot more of a focus these days, where everybody is so physically fit. They’re trying to get to the tip-top level. Every little percentage counts. Everybody takes it so seriously. If you can get a little bit of a percentage on top of somebody, a bit of an edge, then you try and do what you can to achieve that.”
Welbeck would have made many more than his 364 Premier League appearances without the injuries which have intermittently held him back. During five seasons with Arsenal from 2014 to 2019, he suffered knee cartilage damage twice and, worst of all, a season-ending dislocated and broken right ankle.
The latter, in a Europa League tie against Sporting CP in November 2018, was cruelly timed during the final year of his contract. He had been playing regularly, but Arsenal released him after nine months out. A move to nearby Watford the following August, designed to be restorative, only lasted for 14 months.
Welbeck’s five years at Arsenal were beset by injuries (Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)
“It was a really difficult period for me, because I’d just come off the back end of such a bad injury,” Welbeck says. “You don’t know if you can really perform at the highest level. You’re doing everything you can to get back there, speaking to specialists who are telling you it’s not going to be easy, suggesting you might not be able to play at the highest level again. You have obstacles to overcome, but I had great people, great support around me — family, friends.
“They gave me the right platform to build upon, the right base, and I just kept on pushing. It was really a case of when I came to Brighton, I just wanted to prove that I could get back to playing in the Premier League at the highest level. That’s what I’ve done, and I’m looking forward to doing that for a lot longer.”
Welbeck’s evolution has continued since leaving Watford by mutual consent in October 2020 and joining Brighton on a free transfer 12 days later. He played initially under Graham Potter, then Roberto De Zerbi, and now Hurzeler.
“As a striker under Graham, he wanted a lot more running deep in behind, he wanted me to link up the play, but higher up the field, be more of a target man,” Welbeck says. “At times, I also played out wide. Back then, we weren’t as high up the league as we are now, but we were still capable of beating the bigger teams and playing some good stuff, playing from the back.
“Then Roberto De Zerbi came and his style, his tactics, were a more patient build-up. We were keeping the ball for longer periods. It was kind of like playing with two No 10s, so there’s not really an out-and-out striker. A lot of your game is based on the build-up play. It was an incredible experience playing for Roberto.
“Fabian is more of a hybrid between the two with the build-up, but he really wants us to attack the deep spaces, to get in behind as well. It’s a difference between those three managers, but I’ve grown up and I’ve really tried to base my game off being able to do a number of things, not just one ability.”
Welbeck celebrates his winner in last season’s FA Cup victory at Newcastle (Alex Dodd/Getty Images)
Welbeck’s standards have endured — then United manager Erik ten Hag was interested in taking him back to Old Trafford in the summer of 2023.
He has come into 2025-26 off the back of his best season ever for goals in the Premier League, reaching double figures for the first time. His tally of 10 exceeded the nine he scored twice with United (2011-12 and 2013-14). Welbeck became, in the process, Brighton’s record Premier League scorer with 33 goals, overtaking Pascal Gross (30) and showcasing his all-round attributes. He has found the net 15 times for the club with his right foot, seven with his left and on 11 occasions with his head.
The figures suggest Welbeck is better than ever, but he disputes the statistical evidence.
“I’ve definitely played a lot better, but I’ve got the goals, so it depends which way you look at it,” he says. “I like my team to win, so if you have to sometimes sacrifice a little bit of individual glory to get the win, I’d happily do that. I think that’s important at Brighton. You can’t really be carrying players, everybody’s got to be in it together, and that’s how we’re successful.”
Welbeck still feels the hunger and excitement on entering a new season that he had when he started out at United all those years ago.
“Yes, definitely,” he says. “In the summer, you’re still looking for when the fixtures come out and you’re going through the fixture list. It’s always a massive buzz. You still really love football, you’re excited to play. I’ve not really asked anybody who’s retired about it. Do you lose it? For me, it’s still strong, it’s still there.”
The day will come eventually when Welbeck hangs up his boots, but he is not paying much attention to what happens then. “I don’t think about it,” he says. “It’s been my life, playing football, and my job for the last 17 years has been playing professional football, something that I’m so fortunate to do.
“I’m always grateful to be in this position. I’ve worked so hard to be here and to carry on for as long as possible and I will do that until I’m not feeling good. You always have to have a plan for the future, but I still can’t determine what that will be, whether that will be to stay in football or do something completely different.
“I don’t really give it much thought at this moment in time, because of the way I’m feeling. I feel fit, strong, and I just know that it’s not going to happen as soon as you think it’s going to.”
(Top photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)