There has been a lot of talk around Danny Welbeck just now, the Manchester United forward has certainly been in good form for his club. This has led various people to stating that he is a certainly to go to the World Cup, but it's important to remember that he is not the only option. Jay Rodriguez may be fairly new to the Premier League, but his form has been excellent this season - form that recently saw him make his international debut. I think we know that it is more glamours to talk about a Man Utd player for England, than one playing for Southampton. However, we have to think about which players are going to make a biggest impact in Brazil. There is the perception that players playing for bigger clubs are superior. However, we have seen from Rickie Lambert's international appearances that players performing for smaller clubs can make a big impact when given the opportunity. So, with the help of Who Scored data, I hope to show why Rodriguez is just as good of an option as Welbeck is. This will involve comparing the two players on performances this season as well as looking the Southampton man's strengths. The Saints have certainly impressed a lot of people this season, and it's only right that their get the international recognition that they deserve. It's also interesting to consider if there might be room for both players in the final 23, but that is somewhat unlikely due to their similarities.
James Kent is a freelance writer published on Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, FTBpro, Bloomberg Sports and many others. He has also been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Zoo Magazine, MSN Sport and the Manchester Evening News.
His role on What Culture is currently to produce compelling football articles that nearly always use of combination of stats and strong opinion. Feel free to connect with James via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
