World Cup

Danny Welbeck: 'Boredom no issue at World Cup'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 11 June 2018

England and Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck insists that boredom will not be an issue for him at this summer's World Cup following his spells recovering from injuries.

England and Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has insisted that boredom will not be an issue for him at this summer's World Cup in Russia.

Previous England squads have complained of the problem during major tournaments - in particular under Fabio Capello at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

However, Welbeck believes that he has spent enough time recovering from injuries to cope with any extended periods of inactivity at England's Repino base, which is around 45 minutes away from the nearest city of St Petersburg.

"For me, nothing like that seems to bother me. I've had surgery and then not been allowed to put weight on my leg for two months, so I've been stuck in a room and that sort of stuff. I don't get bored now. I've been through that, I don't get bored. I know what I can do to occupy myself, occupy my brain. If I am on my own, I like my own company after that, so I am cool. That sort of stuff won't really bother me," he told PA

"Obviously as soon as you have the injury, you're not in a happy place at all. You know once you've had the surgery, you're going to be out for a certain period of time. It's frustrating. I missed the last Euros and you miss however many months of the Premier League season and that's the one thing you want to do as a footballer - you want to be playing football on the football pitch and enjoying playing the game that you love.

"When you get an injury, that takes it away from you but there's things that you can do to try and take it in a positive way however hard it may be. With it being an injury, it is so negative, but you try and get the positives out of it, see what you can do to learn from the game.

"You might not be able to play but you still learn mentally and that sort of thing, so I think you've just got to try and find that positive. At the end of the day, you've still got that hunger and desire to get back out on the pitch and that's what will drive you on."

England will begin their World Cup campaign against Tunisia on June 18 before facing Panama and Belgium.