Once a Red Devil, he returns to haunt Old Trafford

He arrived in England from Borussia Dortmund in July 2016 with a pedigree of a special talent, a player who can create something out of nothing in midfield. But, for difficult-to-pronounce Armenian international, life in England wasn’t what he hoped for.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is one of the few players who’d pulled on the shirts of both Manchester United and Arsenal. Neither club saw the best of him, unfortunately. Now he returns as a Roma player to try and spoil Manchester United’s season.

Henrikh will go head-to-head with Paul Pogba again (©AFP)

Jose Mourinho signed Mkhitaryan for a fee of around $46 million, but the introduction to the Premier League wasn’t an easy one for the former Shakhtar Donetsk star.

"In the beginning, we had some difficulties. It’s not very easy because you know when you have a new manager you have to try to adapt yourself to him, to the team, to the training session, to the game. I had a hard time with Mourinho, but after the first two or three months there, it was much better. I won three trophies with the club, which was amazing. You know, some players have been playing in Manchester for ages but they haven’t won anything."

It took a lot of hard work and adaptation for Mkhitaryan to win Mourinho over during that difficult 2016-17 campaign, but he eventually did so to become the hero of their Europa League-winning run. But it was always going to be asking a lot for the manager to overlook a second lengthy period of lost form.

After some poor showings in his second season at Old Trafford, it quickly became apparent that the Portuguese coach won’t be counting on the tricky playmaker. Instead, a big-money swoop for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez followed in January 2018 – and Mkhitaryan ended up a Gunner. For a few short months, he got the chance to work with the great Arsene Wenger.

"With Wenger, it was freedom, the freedom to move, to play with the ball. He always wanted to play with the ball. He never wanted to defend because he was always saying if we score more goals than the opponent, we’re going to win the game. It was a pleasing time. Unfortunately, after six months he was sacked."

The arrival of Unai Emery as Wenger’s successor was a terrible appointment from Henrikh’s point of view.

"Then there was Emery, so a different approach to football, a different philosophy. It was quite hard for me because I wasn’t playing a lot of the time. Most of the time I was sitting on the bench. Emery saw football differently and was relying on other players."

Going back to England (©AFP)

Arsenal loaned the Armenian to the Italian side AS Roma in September 2019. A change of scenery and more playing time suited the midfielder perfectly. So much so that his transfer was made permanent a year later. Now he returns to Old Trafford as a Roma player with a lot of confidence and a point to prove.

Recently, Roma’s influential man praised coach Paulo Fonseca for his attaching view of the game and desire to play eye-catching football.

"I'm playing well because I'm happy with the way we play, I'm comfortable with this style of play. We have an attacking style of play with a lot of space forward, like when I was playing at Shakhtar or Borussia Dortmund. Manager Fonseca is quite similar to Thomas Tuchel - he places the players in their positions and leaves them free to express themselves."

The man who scored 20 goals since leaving England would love to add to his tally as his Giallorossi try to overcome Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer’s team and reach the Europa League final - where he could potentially meet another of his former sides - Arsenal.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

Semi-final, first leg

Thursday

22.00: Manchester United - AS Roma

22.00: Villareal - Arsenal