Borussia Dortmund have officially sold the Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the English Premier League Club Machester United. The 27-year-old was purchased by the German club in 2013 for £23.5m. Mkhitaryan made 88 appearances, scoring 23 times for Borussia Dortmund and was also linked to Arsenal for a summer switch to the Premier League this year, but the deal never went through as the midfielder was told to see out his contract at the German club.
Trouble between Mkhitaryan’s agent and the BVB board:
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke had earlier decided not to sell the Armenian midfielder and keep him for the upcoming season. Mkhitaryan had only a year left on his contract which would have expired in 2017 and the midfielder didn’t have any plans to extend his contract at the German club.
According to the Mirror, Mkhitaryan’s agent, Raiola insisted that his client had dreamed of a move to Manchester United and he would make sure that he did his best to fulfill his client’s wish. But the Dortmund CEO had made his stance clear on the matter when he told the German newspaper Bild that they had decided to keep the midfielder until the end of his contract.
According to the Mirror’s reports, agent Raiola threw his chair in a heated discussion with the BVB board. Raiola spoke to the German newspaper Bild that a move to the Premier League club Manchester United would not come again next season and that he would make sure he made the move possible. That is believed to be one of the reasons that the board decided to let Mkhitaryan move this summer.
Done Deal:
In a deal believed to be £26million, the German club had to finally budge to the requests of the Armenian midfielder and part ways. Borussia Dortmund announced on their official social media page that the deal had been completed and that Mkhitaryan would be leaving them in the summer to Manchester United.
According to their official page, BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke explained the following, “ Based on a completely new situation, this transfer was a difficult trade-off for us. Manchester made us a very attractive offer. Had we refused it, the player would have left us on a free transfer in 2017 and we would only have delayed the matter of a replacement for a year”.
In his 3-year stay at the club, Henrikh Mkhitaryan won the DFL-Supercup in 2014 and has been one of the most prominent players for the German side. He was voted the ‘Bundesliga Player of the Season’ according to a poll conducted by German magazine, Kicker.
Mkhitaryan is now the third signing completed by Manchester United along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly. New manager Jose Mourinho has made his intentions clear of bringing Manchester United back to their glory days and has got the backing of the board to make the required signings.
