Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally feels at home in Italy
2 min read
After a discreet stint in England with Manchester United and Arsenal, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has recovered his best form in Serie A. Thanks to the prominence he has taken on in Paulo Fonseca’s AS Roma, who places him as one of the two attacking midfielders in a 3-4-2-1 formation, the Armenian has now the freedom he requires.
The son of a football player, Henrikh Mkhitaryan was formed at FC Pyunik in his home country of Armenia where he made his professional debut at a very young age (17 years old) and in a more central midfielder role but with a very decent goalscoring record that caught the eye of Metalurh Donetsk. In Ukraine, he only needed a year there to join one of the big teams of the country and Eastern Europe, Shakhtar Donetsk.
In that team, Mkhitaryan developed in a natural way until he became the best player in the league where he dominated along with his club. Those outstanding performances convinced Borussia Dortmund to pay 27 million euros for the Armenian star. In the Bundesliga, Mkhitaryan was an essential player in the club despite he only won one DFL Super Cup. However, it allowed Mkhitaryan to gain world recognition and a signing for Manchester United, where the decline of his career would begin.
The Armenian experienced the reverse of what he had gone through in his previous stages. Mkhitaryan progressively lost importance in the Red Devils to the point that he entered as part of the deal in the signing of Alexis Sánchez by Manchester United. At Arsenal FC, the Armenian continued with a low profile that is really difficult whether to blame on the player or is a kind of contagion from the situation of the Gunners in recent years. In 2019, his signing for AS Roma was first made in the form of a loan, and we began to see a version of Mkhitaryan we had not seen for a while.
In this season, Mkhitaryan has gained even more prominence and has been reflected in his 7 goals and 6 assists in 14 Serie A games, being the best assistant in the league along with Mertens and Calhanoglu and an essential piece in the starting eleven of Fonseca’s team.
