Henrikh Mkhitaryan is currently on-loan at Serie A side AS Roma. Indeed, having fallen out of favour under Unai Emery, the former Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund midfielder was allowed to leave the club for the continent.
His opportunities under Paulo Fonseca have been limited this season mainly due to an injury which the Italian giants claim the player was carrying prior to his arrival in their capital.
As a result, Mkhitaryan has made just four Serie A appearances to date and his solitary goal came in the victory over Sassuolo at the Stadio Olimpico. It’s fair to say his Roma career is yet to take off, through no fault of his own, however.
The 30-year-old was quoted in a recent interview with Four Four Two as saying Emery’s philosophies reduced his attacking outputs and he’s not the only one raising questions regarding the Spaniard’s tactics and general approach to games. At a time where the atmosphere around the club seems toxic, could having the experienced Armenian in North-London be of some benefit to the team?
Emery has opted to let Mkhitaryan go and rely on the likes of Bukayo Saka and Reiss Nelson to supply Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette; none of whom have been able to deliver with any level of consistency. That’s not a criticism of those two particular individuals, the pair are 18 and 19-years-old respectively and shouldn’t be relied upon.
There’s no doubt Mkhitaryan since his arrival at the Emirates Stadium has been a shadow of the player Manchester United signed from Dortmund but experience and know-how certainly count for something. Add to that, the fact the club sold Alex Iwobi to Everton on Transfer Deadline day and there is an argument Emery, or whoever made those decisions, has left the club short in that department.
Perhaps he had hoped Nicolas Pepe would have been an instant hit and that would compensate for the inexperience in his other attacking midfielders/wingers, but all of a sudden the decision to allow Mkhitaryan to leave on loan doesn’t seem like the masterstroke some believed it was at the time.