Patrick Rees
The English side Manchester United is all set to officially announce their latest signing Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan after he refused to renew his contract with the Yellow Wall, Borussia Dortmund.
The Armenian attacker has still a year left in his Dortmund’s contract, but it seems like he has set his mind to join the Premier League side Manchester United. Mkhitaryan joined the German side back in June 2013 on a reported fee of £23.5m signing a four-year deal from Shakhtar Donetsk. In his three years of tenure Donetsk, he made 104 appearances, scoring 44 goals.
Soon after joining Dortmund, he became a regular first team player for the team. In his debut season, he made 46 appearances for the side and scored 13 goals. He recently finished his 3rd season with Dortmund and made 136 appearances, scoring 40 goals, 23 out of which came last season.
Now, as he will be joining the Devils soon, a lot of experiments in the formation and in the lineup will be observed. The newly appointed manager of the club, Jose Mourinho will be trying to get the best possible lineup out of the star-studded squad of Manchester.
Talking especially about Mkhitaryan, I honestly feel that he would be the perfect man to end Manchester United’s goal drought. He might become the tailor-made product for the side which constantly lacked in the attacking third last season. The Armenian is a pacy as well as a very intelligent figure in the sport. Not just scoring goals, he is capable of building the game in such a manner that the move usually ends up in a perfect way.
Mkhitaryan is usually used as an Attacking midfielder, but can also operate the game from the flanks. He is a pure threat when deployed behind the striker. His clever runs make spaces for the teammates and that’s how he creates the goal scoring opportunities. He is a highly creative player and is known for his excellent work rate. He never gets tired to track up and down on the field to defend and attack and that would make him the perfect Mourinho signing.
Now, the major concern for the manager would be his positioning. Like I said, his abilities work well when deployed behind the striker, so obviously, one of the existing players would have to give up his position and many pundits expect that it would be Mata. But I think that Mata could be used on the flanks and that might work for the team.
Michael Carrick or Morgan Schneiderlin would play as a defensive midfielder and will guard the back line of the team. Rooney has recently revived his career as a central midfielder and due to his brilliant work-rate, he could to wonders under Mourinho in the center of the park. The left wing would most probably be guided by the French attacker Anthony Martial, who ended his debut season as the top scorer of the club. As stated, Mata on the right and that will give Mkhitaryan a much-needed space and support from all sides. And the forward line will be commanded by the Bid Swede, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
