Gary Neville questions Manchester United sale of striker now tearing up the Premier League

Gary Neville believes Manchester United made a big mistakes by letting Danny Welbeck depart ten years ago in the early days of Louis van Gaal’s rein.

Welbeck had already expressed his frustrations at playing on the left wing for Manchester United before van Gaal’s arrival, and spoke not long after the Dutchman’s arrival in 2014 about his desire to leave the club.

The England international left for Arsenal that summer after Radamel Falcao arrived on loan from Monao: with van Gaal saying of the decision to sell Welbeck: “He played three seasons for the first team, but he doesn’t have the record of Robin van Persie or Wayne Rooney. And that is the standard,” Van Gaal said.

“That is why we let him go, because of Falcao, but also to allow the youngsters to fit in. That is the policy. That is why I am here.”

Welbeck has won plaudits for his performances for Brighton this season, however, claiming four goals and an assist in seven appearances – prompting a retrospective debate about whether United should ever have let him depart, especially in light of their own difficulty finding a reliable striker in the intervening years.

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Speaking on Stick to Football, Ian Wright said: “Danny Welbeck is doing a good job now. I’m pleased for Danny at this stage. I know we’ve watched some games where Danny’s playing and he could have even scored more goals, but his contribution…”

Neville added: “I made a comment on Sunday that Welbeck is in better form than any of the United front players by far. Danny Welbeck, to be fair, should never have been let go at United.

“If you’ve got a squad of 24, 23 – which you have – and you want to keep five or six strikers, he’s got to be one of those players. You’ve got to keep him.

“McTominay’s doing well at Napoli, Sancho’s doing OK at Chelsea…”

Podcast guest Wayne Rooney, a former teammate of Rooney’s said: “One of [Welbeck’s] biggest strengths was winning the ball back, high up the pitch. He was aggressive when you’d go and press, his touch was good, and we had a really good connection playing with him…he was quick.”

Despite having started the discussion about whether Welbeck should have been retained, Roy Keane quickly moved to the other side of the conversation, saying over several interjections: “I don’t know about that. You can’t keep saying that about players – just because he left!

“Sometimes there’s a player who when he leave he goes up and has a really good career. It doesn’t mean to say they were good enough for Man United.”

Neville argued: “No, but as a player who could be a second striker…Van Gaal just wanted him out at the time.”