Premier League club told to hijack Danny Welbeck transfer to Chelsea at 11th hour

Manchester United have been urged to hijack Chelsea’s move for Danny Welbeck.

The former England striker is set to join the Blues from Brighton on a two-year deal, talkSPORT understands.

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Welbeck has been given permission to undergo a medical with Chelsea.

Personal terms have already been agreed with the 35-year-old, who is expected to join up with his new team-mates in Hong Kong as part of their pre-season tour.

However, Welbeck’s former club United have been told they should attempt a last-minute hijack for the veteran forward.

The Red Devils academy graduate spent 13 years at the club before he was sold to Arsenal in 2014.

Welbeck to United?

Appearing on the latest episode of talkSPORT’s Inside Devils, Angelina Kelly called for United to move for Welbeck.

Asked if Michael Carrick’s side should hijack the deal, she exclaimed: “Yes, we 100 per cent should.

“I love Danny Welbeck. The Angelina Kelly household approves this message. We are a Welbeck household.

“This guy, there is nothing that could make me dislike Danny Welbeck. I just think he’s great.

“He’s a Manc lad. Even when he was at Arsenal, I wasn’t mad at him. I was like, ‘you go Danny Welbeck, you go and you have fun, you make something of yourself.’”

Having made his first-team debut aged 17, Welbeck went on to score 29 goals in 142 appearances for United.

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He also won eight trophies including two Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Ease the burden

The addition of a new striker would ease the burden on Benjamin Sesko ahead of his second season at Old Trafford.

Although Carrick also has Joshua Zirkzee and Matheus Cunha as centre-forward options, the 23-year-old is set to be his starting No.9.

Sesko scored 11 goals in 30 Premier League outings last term following his arrival from RB Leipzig.

Kelly continued: “I just think it would be a great option because Benjamin Sesko is the future with Manchester United.

“I think he had a really good season overall, when you consider everything that was going on. He’s come back, he looks very built in the upper body, he’s been in the gym.

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“I don’t like the idea of having it all on his shoulders. We’ve seen that happen a couple of times with the Manchester United strikers.

“Yes, we’ve got younger players, somebody like Chido Obi [Martin], for example, who’s coming through. No guarantees with that.

“I think to have somebody like Welbeck, who knows the Premier League, knows Manchester United, I think he should have been in the World Cup squad, to be honest.

“I was sad that he didn’t get that call-up. That’s the level that he’s at. To have someone like him, be able to fill in if there are injuries, to be able to rotate because we’re hoping that Man United go far in the cup competitions. We can’t have another Grimsby situation. It cannot happen.

“I think that he’d be a great asset and I understand why Chelsea are going in for him. I think that especially with their discipline issues and all that stuff, I think he’d bring a lot of calm.”

Welbeck missed out on a place in England’s final World Cup squad despite scoring 13 league goals last season.

Those strikes took his Premier League tally to 90 in 400 appearances for Brighton, United, Arsenal, Sunderland and Watford.