England manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that he encouraged Arsene Wenger to take Danny Welbeck to Arsenal last summer.
The 24-year-old left boyhood club Manchester United last August to sign for the Gunners in a £16m deadline-day deal.
Hodgson has admitted that he tried to convince Wenger to sign the forward prior to the deal going through.
He told reporters: "I speak to him very often. We spoke of course before he signed him and I was singing Danny's praises, so I'm delighted Arsene has seen that my judgment wasn't wrong and that he shares that judgment.
"We [England] like Danny very much. We've always shown faith in Danny. Many times he was selected by me when he wasn't actually playing for Manchester United. He's sometimes not even been on the bench and yet still we've selected him because we think he's got the qualities required.
"And what he really needs now is the faith of his manager, which he's obviously got from Arsene, to get more games and then I think we'll see more and more performances from him that we've been lucky enough to see with England."
Hodgson has given a first England call-up to Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane for the internationals with Lithuania and Italy at the end of March.
Chris O'Keefe
