Manchester United Legend Sees Himself In Danny Welbeck

Manchester United legend Andy Cole has revealed he can see some of himself in Danny Welbeck, as the young striker continues to stake his claim on a starting sport for the English giants.

Welbeck has been on fire so far this season, and after scoring the winner against Arsenal on Sunday to keep the title fight with Manchester City as tight as ever, the striker has been lauded by pundits as yet another successful youth academy graduate under Sir Alex Ferguson.

It seemed before the start of the season that Welbeck would suffer from limited starts for United, particularly with Javier Hernandez continuing to shine alongside Wayne Rooney. But after Hernandez was injured and suffering in his second season, Welbeck has taken his chance to show Ferguson his worth, scoring nine times so far this season.

And Cole, who made almost 200 appearances for United in 1995-2001, and was a member of the treble winning side of 1999, believes that the key to Welbeck's success so far has been confidence in his ability.

"I think Danny's brilliant, and it's fantastic for his confidence that he's starting so many big games," Cole told the official United website.

"Javier Hernandez has been injured and has been finding it tough to repeat what he did in his first season. Sometimes your second season is your toughest, I went through that myself.

"Danny has come in and grabbed his chance with both hands and he's playing very well. He's playing with confidence and getting goals too.

"You might say I was a bit of an old-fashioned centre forward when I played, in that I always wanted to try and run in behind defenders and get chances that way. To see Danny doing that is great.

"He can play in front of defenders as well, but when he runs in behind them he causes a lot of problems."

Welbeck's current contract with United finishes in June 2013, and while reports were circulating this month claiming that he was stalling talks on a new deal, Sir Alex Ferguson insisted that this isn't the case.

"We know the situation well with Danny. There is nothing to worry about there," the manager told Sky Sports.

United fans will be hoping that Welbeck is able to follow up his performance against Arsenal by scoring against Liverpool in the FA Cup this weekend. The tie is particularly important for the Red Devils, who will be hoping to show their dominance over one of their most bitter rivals, and stay in the hunt to pull off the FA Cup/title double.