Cristiano Ronaldo snubbed! Danny Welbeck ignores Manchester United legend as he names his best-ever strike partner, instead picking ex-Arsenal team-mate

Welbeck started his professional career at Old Trafford and shared the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo in his maiden season at United in the 2008/09 campaign. Ronaldo left for Real Madrid a year later, and Welbeck eventually landed at Arsenal in 2014 where he spent the next five years of his career.

The 34-year-old has played alongside several world-class attackers in his 17-year-long professional career. In a chat with Sky Sports, the Englishman said: "Actually when I was first in the dressing room and I was in the corner between Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs, I was a 17-year-old and that’s who I’m sat between.

"It was just amazing to see. Ronaldo, you saw how early he got to the training ground, how late he left. I didn’t play as many games with him, but I still got to play with him and train with him for a couple of years, and that was so special. Berbatov had special qualities, and what he could produce was out of this world. I think he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves," Welbeck said of the flamboyant Bulgarian. "He was quietly confident and knew how good he was."

He added: "Olivier (Giroud), I loved playing alongside him; it worked really well together. Again, he’s someone who didn’t quite get the recognition he deserves, but he was a top, top class centre forward and good strike partner to play with."

The Brighton forward then finally revealed his best-ever strike partner, as he said: "I’m going to go for Sanchez. I played a lot of games with him, and I really had a good connection with him. He was one where he could spot runs and find me and come again. We just had a really good connection between us."

The veteran forward will be back in action for the Seagulls on Saturday as they host Fulham in a Premier League clash.