Henrikh Mkhitaryan started the 2017/2018 in excellent form, with five assists and a goal in his first five games. It had looked as though, with the arrival of Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic, the Armenian would finally be able to thrive at Old Trafford after a difficult first season. Unfortunately, he has failed to add a single goal or assist since, and has struggled even to make the matchday squad since November.
A frustrating career at Manchester United may be coming to an end this week, as reports suggest the player is at the heart of a deal with Arsenal that would see Alexis Sanchez heading the other way. Wenger seems keen as Mkhitaryan would provide a position-perfect replacement for Sanchez while Mourinho looks desperate to offload. It would be nice if, at the end of season’s most drawn-out transfer saga, the ex-Bundesliga player of the year is given another chance to demonstrate his unquestionable talent.
It’s not easy to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for Mkhitaryan at Manchester United.
It’s no secret that Mourinho loves certain types of players, who fit nicely into his more rigid “footballing philosophy,” cited this week as a reason for the player’s inevitable departure. Indeed, fans have speculated that Mkhitaryan’s utility as a free-roaming winger hasn’t quite fit into Mourinho’s more conservative approach, but many of the world’s best creative attacking talents have thrived under Mourinho in the past.
Perhaps it is a matter of competition. The concurrent emergence of Marucs Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard has given Mourinho rotation headaches when it comes to his frontline. Throw Mata into the mix, and there are five players fighting for two positions. Rashford and Martial have deservedly ousted Mkhitaryan from the starting line-up, and it might be that the former Dortmund man has done little to show that he deserves to return. Many players do crumble once dropped under Mourinho, and he clearly holds greater admiration for those who grind their way back in.
So perhaps there are no excuses for Mkhitaryan and he simply hasn’t been good enough. His performance against Chelsea early in the year was incredibly poor, and in matches where he has struggled for space and time he has gone missing, rather than fighting his way back into the game. After his last Premier League goal for the club, Mourinho gave the winger six more starts in the league, but the player contributed not so much as a goal or an assist, in a run which saw United lose to Huddersfield and Chelsea. For those who claim that Mkhitaryan has been treated unfairly, Mourinho has clearly felt let down, and has given plenty of chances to the player he signed for £30m.
When Mkhitaryan was left out of the squad against Brighton, Mourinho justified his omission by pointing towards the need for balance on the bench, and that he believed his attacking alternatives were more deserving of a chance to play. With an upturn in results in December, Mourinho’s decision vindicated. Now, with Lingard and Martial in excellent form, it’s hard to justify a return for Mkhitaryan despite his flashes of brilliance.
Under Wenger, a manager who enjoys a more fluid style of football, we may finally get to see the true extent of Mkhitaryan’s talents. Arsenal are struggling for creativity in attack, and with less competition, Mkhitaryan’s fragile confidence may be less vulnerable to assault. The Premier League has only seen glimpses of his capability so far, but a move to Arsenal would represent a second chance for a player deprived of confidence.
