Danny Welbeck might not have been an Arsenal player on transfer deadline day had it not been for Arsenal's captain and vice-captain.
Welbeck made his move from Manchester United to Arsenal for a £16 million fee right at the end of the summer transfer window, when it looked like the England international would be a Tottenham player.
However, Welbeck's move to Arsenal materialised mainly because of Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker, according to the Daily Star.
The Arsenal skipper and vice-captain convinced Arsene Wenger to make a deadline day bid for Welbeck after realising the player was available.
The report suggests Arteta and Mertesacker met Welbeck in the Arsenal gym after the then Manchester United striker man had trained with the England squad at the club's training ground, and became aware of the fact that he was looking for a move away from Manchester United.
Apparently, Arteta and Mertesacker then called Wenger, who was in Rome at the time coaching in a charity game, and convinced the Frenchman to put in a late bid to beat out competition from Tottenham.
England's Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott also reportedly played their parts in assuring Wenger, Welbeck was the man to lead the line for Arsenal.
Welbeck was involved with the Arsenal squad for the first time on Wednesday, and is expected to be in contention for a starting place – as a central striker – for the English Premier League clash against Manchester City on Saturday.
The 23-year-old will be buzzing with confidence after scoring both goals in England's 2-0 win over Switzerland in their Euro 2016 qualifier, and Walcott, currently recuperating from injury, believes the more selfish Welbeck is the better his goalscoring rate will be.
"I've worked with Danny for England and we link up very well," Walcott told Arsenal Player. "He's another English guy and we've got a good English core now.
"He's going to be better for us than he was at Man United, definitely. He'll get more opportunities and he's got a point to prove. I know he's worked hard and he's still very young, and I think the boss will enjoy working with him. The fans definitely will -- he's very exciting and he's very strong.
"One thing I would tell him to do is be a little more selfish because he's unselfish at times, which isn't a bad thing but I think he'll get more goals if he's more selfish. I'm sure he'll do well for us."
