Henrikh Mkhitaryan has rejected another contract offer from Borussia Dortmund, amidst interest from Chelsea and Arsenal.
The Armenian all-time international goalscorer has had a incredible season for his club, scoring 23 goals in all competitions, and assisting a further 30. That form has attracted interest from England, and both Chelsea and Arsenal are linked with moves.
Speculation was increased when some of his family members were supposedly spotted house-hunting in the English capital early in 2016, and he is now supposedly refusing to extend his contract with Dortmund.
Mkhitaryan’s contract is entering its final 12 months at present, and there is apparently a disagreement over terms of the deal. The player was believed to have stated he would only sign a deal should a manager release clause be included, meaning he could leave if Thomas Tuchel was removed from his role in charge of the club.
The BVB are believed to be strongly keen to keep the 27 year-old however, especially having been forced to allow Mats Hummels to leave and join rivals Bayern Munich. The defender made his intentions to leave the club before the end of the year, and has returned to his former club.
They may be forced to sell should a deal not be agreed, with the risk of losing him on a free transfer in 12 months time extremely high, they would likely be forced to cash-in on his signature.
There have been reports linking Mesut Ozil with a switch to Bayern Munich this summer, and Mkhitaryan could be the perfect player to replace him, having created more goals, as well as having found the net more often then his German counterpart.
Obviously we would much rather keep Ozil AND bring in the Armenian, but that may not be an option we have available to us at present.
Do you think HM would be a good replacement for Ozil should he opt to leave?