When I heard people comparing Danny Welbeck to Thierry Henry last week, I have to confess I did snigger a little.

But with my composure regained, I gave it a bit more thought and, ludicrous as it initially sounded, there is actually something in it.

In terms of showing great potential as youngsters, spending the first part of their career being played out of position and then arriving at Arsenal to reinvent themselves as a centre forward, they have followed almost identical paths.

Equally, both had arguably been better for their country than their clubs until they washed up on the Arsenal shores.

And, truth be told, Welbeck’s hattrick against Galatasaray was quite Henry-esque, both in the way he was able to power his way past the defenders and the manner in which he slotted the ball home.

He may not currently have Henry’s refined elegance, but there are definitely some physical similarities between the two players, and no doubt Arsene Wenger will have picked up on this.

It’s early days, of course, and before anyone gets too carried away let’s remember that Niklas Bendtner also scored three goals in a Champions League game for Arsenal. And that was probably a contributing factor in his subsequent belief that he was the best player in the world when, in reality, he made Andy Cole look skilful and ruthless.

But I said back in August that Welbeck could turn out to be the signing of the season. Now, after a slightly slow start, it is beginning to look like he may be Arsenal’s missing link – the player who is capable of providing an end product to all the pretty passing.

If he ultimately turns out to be half as good as Henry, then Wenger will have got himself the bargain of the decade at just £16 million.

He may be Arsenal’s missing link – the player capable of providing an end product to all the pretty passing

More importantly than the financial aspect, however, is that fact that he may also have the final piece of a jigsaw that brings the club some serious silverware…

Time to experiment

Fresh from their much-improved performance against Switzerland in their last qualifying match, England take on San Marino and Estonia this week in two group games they should win without breaking a sweat.

Anything less than six points and a goal avalanche, in fact, and I think Roy Hodgson should be given a painful and demeaning punishing. Like being made temporary manager of Cardiff City under Vincent Tan’s ownership maybe.

That away victory in their opening match against the only decent team in the group means qualification is all but assured. Hodgson must now take advantage of the coming nine games to tinker with things.

I don’t want to see totally experimental sides because these are, after all, competitive games, and the opponents, no matter how weak, need to be treated with respect.

However, even if he just bloods one new player in each remaining game he will have dramatically expanded his selection pool by the end of the campaign.

Equally, he should look at new systems. 4-3-3 is fine but why not have a dabble with 3-5-2 and 4-1-4-1 while you are at it? Possibly even 4-4-2.

Try and find a formation that fits the players at your disposal rather that trying to make the players fit the formation, as he has been doing so far.

In short, this is the perfect time and place for England to be creative and adventurous. Hopefully Hodgson will grasp that opportunity instead of trying to rack up cricket scores in the hope it will repair some of the damage done to his reputation by the last World Cup.

Meanwhile, in an interesting Welbeck side note, it was rather amusing to see that the Football Association, in naming the squad for this week’s matches, listed Arsenal’s new hero as a Manchester United player on the official team sheet.

Good to see the organisation has its finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the English game…

Friendly fire

From a fan’s perspective it’s difficult to find a positive aspect to Manchester United’s absence from European football this season.

The club loses revenue, the players miss out on what could be invaluable competitive experience and the fans themselves have to put up with all sorts of stick from their rivals.

However, there actually is one good thing to come out of their enforced absence – it gives the players more time to rest between matches and concentrate on their league form.

Which is why I am staggered that United are now considering setting up lucrative overseas friendlies to fill in the gaps where Champions League football would have been played.

Is it just me or is that short-sighted money-grabbing stupidity beyond belief?

Maybe if the club had made a flying start to the season and were top of the table destroying opponents week-in, week-out then it might not have been such a ludicrous idea.

But they aren’t.

The truth is they are still struggling and have an almighty fight on their hands to get back into the all-important top four.

Sticking a bunch of meaningless friendlies in the middle of their league programme is not going to help in the slightest. Especially when they will probably be organised in far-flung corners of the planet to maximise revenue and exposure.

Spending a year in European exile was actually a blessing in disguise for a team going through a major overhaul.

Now it looks like they will throw away that advantage and possibly even consign themselves to another season away from European competition just to try and boost their short-term bank balance.

Very naive.

All in good time

There is a growing clamour for Fifa to release the report into corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids. And understandably so.

If the organisation in general, and Sepp Blatter in particular, are serious about cleaning up their act then making Michael Garcia’s report public seems like a no-brainer.

However, for once I have to agree with Fifa being cautious on this one. Not because those findings shouldn’t be made public, but because releasing them now could play into the hands of those it names and shames.

German Judge Joachim Eckert is currently considering the 430-page report and the 200,000 pages of supporting evidence and will announce his findings and his plan of action in November.

Putting the report in the public domain at this point would give those it implicates the time and space they need to come up with excuses and cover their tracks.

Let’s wait and see what conclusions Eckert comes up with before we get all gung ho.

If at that point things aren’t clearer and the murkiness surrounding the bids remains, that will be the time to start baying for the report’s full and unconditional publication.

And if they still refuse to release it, I’m sure we will be able to find someone inside Fifa who is willing to leak a copy in return for a nice watch or something…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade