LONDON // Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has aimed a barb at former employers Manchester United by suggesting they hampered his development by playing him out of position on the wing.
A succession of United managers -- Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Louis van Gaal -- opted to use Welbeck as a wide forward, with Van Gaal explaining recently that he did not score enough goals.
Read more: Danny Welbeck can thrive after Champions League treble, says Arsene Wenger
But Welbeck has hit form since his £16 million ($26.6 million, 20.2 million euros) switch to Arsenal and has now scored four goals in five games after his hat-trick against Galatasaray in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday.
“Nobody can really criticise my finishing because they don’t really see me playing in a forward position too often,” said Welbeck, in comments carried by several British newspapers on Friday.
“But now I am getting into these positions, I want to be sticking the ball in the back of the net. I am sure it’s the same with every other striker.
“Obviously people can say I have not scored enough goals, but you stick the best strikers on the wing in a four-man midfield and see if they score goals.”
Welbeck’s team-mate Aaron Ramsey likened the England striker to Arsenal great Thierry Henry following his hat-trick against Galatasaray, telling talkSPORT radio that one of his goals had been “very Thierry Henry-esque”.
Similarly to Welbeck, Henry began his career as a winger before being converted into a prolific centre-forward, but Welbeck said comparisons with the former France international were premature.
“You can’t start making comparisons like that,” said the 23-year-old. “Obviously Thierry Henry is someone I have looked up to ever since I started playing football.”
Aaron Ramsey expected to miss four weeks with injury
Arsenal expect to be without injured midfielder Aaron Ramsey for around four weeks, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed on Friday.
The Wales international sustained a hamstring injury during Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League last Saturday and missed Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat of Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Reports in the British media on Friday claimed that Ramsey could be out for up to two months, but Wenger said he thinks the 23-year-old will be able to return at the beginning of November.
“I’ve been told he could be out for three to four weeks, so I count four,” Wenger told a press conference.
If sidelined for four weeks, Ramsey will miss league matches against Chelsea, Hull City and Sunderland, as well as a Champions League group game away to Anderlecht.
He also stands to miss Wales’s 2016 European Championship qualifying matches against Bosnia-Hercegovina and Cyprus.
Ramsey scored 16 goals last season and was voted Arsenal’s player of the season, despite spending three months on the sidelines with a left thigh injury.
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