LONDON: Manchester United forward Danny Welbeck has responded angrily to a claim by David Moyes that he did not train hard enough last season.

Moyes, sacked as United boss in April after only 10 months, claimed last December that Welbeck was failing to follow the example of Wayne Rooney, who regularly stayed behind after training to improve his shooting.

Welbeck, preparing to the World Cup finals with England, said: “I was pretty surprised. Before he made that statement I was doing extra training. Maybe he just didn’t see it. I’ve grown up at Manchester United and been professional all through my career and I always do extra work.

“It’s born and bred in me to do extra work after training and maybe he wasn’t seeing that extra stuff. I was doing extras in the gym and on the pitch.”

Welbeck, who scored 11 goals in 24 starts last season, was unhappy during the campaign after being selected by Moyes to play wide left on a number of occasions.

He said: “It does get frustrating. You want to be playing in a certain position and you’re not getting the opportunity to do that. It’s the same for everyone – when they are being played out of position they don’t really like it.

“I’d like to play central. I’ve been playing on the left for a while and it’s got to the time where I want to stake a place up front.

“My goals-per-game ratio is better for England. I’m much more free up front as there are three in midfield and three up front. That way there’s a bit more defensive cover rather than me being that defensive cover.

“For United I’m more likely to be left wing of a four-man midfield with only two centre-mids so it’s a bit more difficult for me to maybe make those runs to get in and score those goals when I’ve got to think about my defensive duties as well.”

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