As time that goes by, I’m more and more convinced that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be playing football for Arsenal next season.
The Armenian international joined the club as part of the deal that allowed Alexis Sanchez to depart to join Manchester United in January 2018, but has struggled to settle under managers Arsene Wenger or Unai Emery.
Mkhi opted to take up the chance to return to Italy last summer, with Roma paying a fee to sign him on loan for a year, and he has fought his way into a first-team role.
Despite reports claiming that both the club and player are enjoying the arrangement, Roma do not appear willing to pay the asking price to make that move permanent. Today it was claimed that the Giallorossi may try to sign the forward on loan again, but that make no sense at all.
Mkhitaryan will be entering the final 12 months of his contract this summer, meaning he could literally leave on a free transfer at the end of the loan, which financially would be stupid on Arsenal’s part, and stupid we are not…
The more I read about the situation, whether it be the high asking price set by our club, talk of our own tight transfer budget or the return to form for Mkhitaryan, I’m more and more persuaded that Mikel Arteta will be open to playing him next term.
The duo will be all-too familiar from their time at Arsenal in 2018 whilst the Spaniard was captain, and the now-coach may well have his own ideas on getting the best our his former team-mate.
Could Arteta persuade Mkhitaryan to stay on next season? Could the star have unfinished business in England?
Patrick
