Welbeck and his United teammates trained at Sydney FC’s home ground Allianz Stadium tonight in front of a rapturous crowd of around 22-24,000 fans, with some Red Devils fans turning up as early 10.30am.
 
SCG Trust officials said the turnout was something they’d never seen before in any code - and the 22-year-old United forward echoed those sentiments.
 
“It’s quite surprising because football’s not the main sport over here,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.
 
“It’s good and obviously we’ve got such a strong backing from the fans to go to this open training session and there are still so many fans waiting to get in and queuing up.
 
“It’s great to know that Manchester United is backed globally.”
 
A large media presence also greeted United tonight with a phalanx of photographers and media turning up for the session ahead of the big game on Saturday night.  
 
Welbeck was also in awe of the fans’ reaction after being hearing tonight’s ANZ Stadium clash with the A-League All Stars  sold out months ago.
 
“It’s massive,” he said. “To come to Australia which is far, far away from home selling out stadiums and this [the training session] it’s a massive boost.” 
 
But the fact football's not the only code Down Uder has some benefits for the England striker who, like his teammates, can’t walk the streets of Manchester without being noticed.
 
“Obviously football is a major sport in a lot of countries worldwide so to come to a country where it’s not the main sport is a bit different but it’s also good in its own way,” he said.
 
“It’s a bit more downtime and a bit more relaxed. You don’t get recognised as much. You can go to the shopping mall and chill out and do things where you don’t get the same pressured or hassled as much."
 
Welbeck is on the cover of the new FourFourTwo magazine celebrating this special July of “EPL in Oz”
 
He is also likely to be a key man against the All-Stars on Saturday night.
 
During the week, United manger David Moyes stressed to his striker that working even harder will bring more benefits to his strike rate.
 
“I spoke to him quite a bit yesterday and I told him the harder you work you tend to find the more luck comes your way,” the new United gaffer told media this week in Sydney.
 
Welbeck banged in 12 goals in 39 appearances in season 2012/13 – his first full campaign in the senior side. However, last season a series of positional changes may have contributed to a reduced output of just two goals in 40 for United.
 
“If he continues the practice and tries to improve his finishing, he'll feel confident in taking the chances coming to him,” said Moyes.
 
How Welbeck practices  is part of an upcoming FourFourTwo Performance special which will be online next week.
 
Prior to training on Friday night, Welbeck trained with a group of up and coming Aussie players including two players from last year’s Chance contest.
 
And he later presented them with his boot of choice, the Nike Hypervenom. For more information on the boots head here
 
He added: “I’ve loved it here but obviously I haven’t seen as much as I’d have liked because of some double days [of training] but in general it’s been a country I’ve really loved and I’d like to visit again.”