{"id":22351,"date":"2026-07-28T13:11:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22351"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:11:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:11:57","slug":"the-four-big-money-former-chelsea-transfer-targets-danny-welbeck-outscored-last-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22351","title":{"rendered":"The four big-money former Chelsea transfer targets Danny Welbeck outscored last season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-378841\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\">  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> <span>Add as preferred source on Google<\/span>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Our rival fans are scoffing at Xabi Alonso\u2019s desire to add Danny Welbeck to his Chelsea squad.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>OK, Chelsea signing a 35-year-old Welbeck does sound a bit funny, almost as funny as signing a 36-year-old Jordan Henderson (that\u2019s a discussion for another day).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"\/>\n<p>But considering the club\u2019s need to add more experience to the squad, bringing in Welbeck does make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n<p>And when you look at his numbers compared to some of last season\u2019s biggest Premier League signings, maybe we should be the ones laughing!<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United and Liverpool both spent big in 2025 to bring in Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Hugo Ekitike, yet none of those forwards were able to outscore Welbeck.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-getty-images-media\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"719\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-1024x719.jpg\" alt=\"Manchester United's Matheus Cunha celebrates\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-1024x719.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-768x539.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-1140x800.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2266215036-750x526.jpg 750w\"\/><\/div><figcaption title=\"MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: Manchester United's Matheus Cunha celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Bryan Mbeumo during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford on March 15, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Lee Parker - CameraSport via Getty Images)\">Photo by Lee Parker \u2013 CameraSport via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Brighton &#038; Hove Albion man managed to score 13 goals in 37 top-flight outings. Sesko, Mbeumo and Ekitike could only score 11 times, while Cunha barely reached the 10-goal mark.<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle United\u2019s Nick Woltemade, who was also a big-money signing last summer, scored just eight goals. The German, Sesko, Ekitike and Cunha were all reportedly considered by Chelsea at some stage before their 2025 transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe, then, just maybe, United and Liverpool fans should think twice before laughing at Chelsea\u2019s move for Welbeck.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"a7ff3fe3-a05c-423f-9e8c-99ae14865441\" data-story-name=\"Chelsea Transfers\" data-comment-id=\"d12ac2d0-30dd-497c-b05f-899cc80e8ffa\" data-story-slug=\"chelsea-transfers\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<p><h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">Danny Welbeck to Chelsea out of nowhere! Share your thoughts below \ud83d\ude31<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Danny Welbeck of Brighton\" class=\"wp-image-378777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-912x1140.png 912w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck-600x750.png 600w, https:\/\/cdn1.thechelseachronicle.com\/uploads\/17\/2026\/07\/Danny-Welbeck.png 1080w\"\/><\/div><figcaption title=\"Danny Welbeck of Brighton &amp; Hove Albion during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Brighton &amp; Hove Albion at Elland Road in Leeds, United Kingdom, on May 17, 2026. (Photo by Scott Llewellyn\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\">Photo by Scott Llewellyn\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>If anything, Chelsea\u2019s owners probably deserve a bit of credit for turning to the likes of Welbeck and Henderson.<\/p>\n<p>Their transfer strategy, which has been centred around signing young players with potential, has been criticised by everyone. However, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have clearly acknowledged that it was not working and that more experienced players are needed.<\/p>\n<p>Should they have acknowledged their mistakes a bit sooner? Perhaps, while critics will argue that experience does not have to come in the form of Welbeck and Henderson. For example, Robert Lewandowski was recently available on a free transfer, a much sexier name than Danny Welbeck.<\/p>\n<p>But I think most fans would prefer to go into the new season with Welbeck than Liam Delap, who had an absolute shocker in the previous campaign.<\/p>\n<div class=\"see-more-wrapper lazy see-more-open see-more-blank extra-content\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/news\/danny-welbeck-outscored-five-of-last-seasons-biggest-premier-league-signings\/none\" data-type=\"subscribe\">\n<div class=\"see-more subscribe\">\n<figure class=\"newsletter\">\n<div><svg class=\"loading\" width=\"118\" height=\"36\" viewbox=\"0 0 118 36\"><use href=\"#dots-svg\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"signup\"><span class=\"hf\">Join Our Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script>grvLoadAnalytics = () => {(function(d,s,i){var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0),j=d.createElement(s);j.async=true;j.src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=\"+i;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(document,'script','G-E7VRWQHDP6');(function(d,s,i){if(!\/callback=in\/.test(window.location.search)){var e=d.createElement(s);var n=d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);e.type=\"text\/javascript\";e.async=true;e.src=\"https:\/\/static.chartbeat.com\/js\/chartbeat.js\";n.parentNode.insertBefore(e,n);}})(document,\"script\",\"G-E7VRWQHDP6\");(function(){let s=document.createElement(\"script\");s.async=true;s.dataset.domain=\"thechelseachronicle.com\/MFj4XQ\";s.src=\"https:\/\/api.publytics.net\/js\/script.manual.ping.min.js\";document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\")(0).appendChild(s);})();if(!\/callback=in\/.test(window.location.search)){setTimeout(function(){!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');fbq('init','663509325503632');fbq('track','PageView');fbq('track','ViewContent',{content_name:'The four big-money former Chelsea transfer targets Danny Welbeck outscored last season',content_category:'News',content_ids:(378841,\"benjamin-sesko\",\"danny-welbeck\",\"hugo-ekitike\",\"matheus-cunha\",\"nick-woltemade\"),content_type:'post',});},3000);}}<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add as preferred source on Google Our rival fans are scoffing at Xabi Alonso\u2019s desire&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}