Sir Trevor Brooking feels Danny Welbeck deserves England Player of the Year nomination
Sir Trevor Brooking gave his backing to Danny Welbeck as the countdown to The FA England Awards Night continues.
The Manchester United striker is one of five players nominated for the England Men’s Senior Player Of The Year award, which will be announced on Sunday evening.
In his role as Director Of Football Development, Brooking has seen Welbeck rise through the England ranks over the years.
And speaking on TalkSPORT, Brooking backed former England striker and presenter Stan Collymore’s choice for the award.
He said: “I’ve seen Danny come right through the system in my nine years at The FA, from the U16s, U17s, U19s and Under-21s.
“He’s always turned up and played well, so you could always see him progressing.”
Welbeck had an impressive 2012, travelling to EURO 2012 with Roy Hodgson’s squad and scoring memorable goals against the likes of Belgium at Wembley and Sweden in Kiev.
That form has seen him nominated alongside Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole for the award.
Around 150,000 fans voted for their choice on TheFA.com and the winner will be presented with the award at The FA England Awards Night at St. George’s Park.
And Brooking is hopeful that the 22-year-old can continue his development as a striker at Old Trafford and under Hodgson to help England in the future.
“It’s a position, in international football, where you’ve got to be able to score goals and we haven’t had that depth of choice in recent years,” he added.
“It’s important and Dan can play as a top man, or he can play in the hole or in one of the wide positions.
“If he can just add those goals, and he’s starting to get that cutting edge as he had five goals last year.
“In competitions, you’ve got to be able to win the matches. Our problem has been that if we can’t win them and we draw, we end up with a penalty shoot-out where we have perhaps lost more than we should.
“If you can get a striker who can consistently tuck away chances, then that’s a help.”