Welbeck Does Not Travel with United Squad to Hannover: What Does This Mean?

Manchester United have omitted England striker Danny Welbeck from their 19 man squad to play German side Hannover 96 this Saturday.

That's according to the club website, which also states that despite having only just returned from Olympic duty, both Tom Cleverly and Ryan Giggs will go with the team to the Lower Saxony region of Germany.

Of course, Danny's emission from the side could be for any number of reasons.

Fatigue from a busy summer period, a slight injury picked up in the Barcelona game or even Fergie's confidence in the player and desire to rest him for the start of the coming season are a few of them.

The absence of Welbeck from the side does make things very interesting from an attacking point of view for the weekend fixture.

Either we could see the straight swap of Javier Hernandez into Welbeck's custom position, or perhaps the inclusion of Shinji Kagawa playing just off Wayne Rooney, who would be acting as a lone forward.

Both changes to the line-up will, I'm sure, be wholeheartedly welcomed from United fans, who hold a special place in their hearts for Hernandez and would be delighted to see how their new Japanese signing gets on in earnest.

The club site gave no explanation for Danny's lack of inclusion. As such, it has already led some more sceptical United fans to believe that perhaps the 21-year-old is being used as part of a deal to acquire the services of current Arsenal striker, Robin Van Persie.

These rumours are completely unfounded, but I suppose when it comes to football, nothing can really be counted out for sure.

However, it would seem like an odd move on the part of Sir Alex to let one of his most promising players go at such a fledgling stage of his career just to bring in a somewhat injury-prone and ageing striker.

Fergie has shown a lot of faith in Welbeck up to this point, and one has to assume that was for a good reason.

Danny's performances with the national side during Euro 2012 managed to silence a lot of critiques—he put in performances that his United counter-part, Rooney, could not compete with.

Whatever your view on Welbeck's absence, I'm sure it's nothing to get too concerned about if you're a fan of his at United.

United's Squad for Saturday:

 De Gea, Lindegaard; Evra, Ferdinand, M Keane, Vidic; Anderson, Bebe, Robbie Brady, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Ryan Giggs, Nani, Valencia, Young; Berbatov, Hernandez, Kagawa, Rooney.