Adam McPhee and Welsh both threatened to miss the start of Essendon's pre-season as they chased three-year deals from the club.
Welsh subsequently signed a two-year deal with the Bombers but McPhee nominated for December's NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft and left the club uncompensated for his departure when he took up a three-year deal with his former club Fremantle.
Collingwood was strongly linked to Welsh through the period of uncertainty, but the man at the centre of the storm said it was all blown well out of proportion.
"Because I was out of the country at the time all that was happening, when I came back and saw what was going on I thought 'I'd better get this sorted out'," he said after training on Friday morning.
"I came in and met (CEO) Ian Robson, (coach) Matty Knights and (football manager) Paul Hamilton, and within five minutes it was sorted out.
"I was here for the first day of training and to get underway with training and watch the boys grow as a group in the last couple of months has been great."
Welsh said he was an Essendon boy at heart and was looking forward to playing in more finals after a return to September action last year.
"I'm a local boy, I love the club, and we've been through a lot of hard years and I think we're on the way up," Welsh said.
"The signs are promising - we've got a lot of hard work to do, but I want to be a part of that as much as any other boy here."
The 26-year-old, who broke his leg in a practice match early last year and subsequently missed the first 11 games of the season, said the memory made him think twice about putting his hand up for the scratch match the Bombers have in a couple of weeks.
"We've got one in Shepparton in a couple of weeks and I'm sort of 50-50 if I want to get out there or just go into the NAB Cup in Perth," he said with a laugh.
"But I'm sure I'll get out there and have a run around - I just love playing footy, so any chance I get, I'll get out there and play."
Andrew Welsh averaged 85.2 points as a midfielder in last year’s Toyota AFL Dream Team
