Manchester United’s boss Jose Mourinho had left out the 28-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan out of the squad that hammered the opposition Newcastle United by a margin of 4-1 at Old Trafford causing widespread confusion. The Armenian midfielder cut a sorrow figure during the club’s training session before the game against Newcastle.
Reports from The Sun suggested that the United Boss has his reservations over the midfielder, who has made 13 appearances this season for the Red Devils. In the 13 appearances, Mkhitaryan has scored twice which can be categorized as a poor return to the season.
The Armenian midfielder was Mourinho’s third signing this summer, for a sum of €42million from the German club Borussia Dortmund. In the two seasons, the 28-year-old has not lived up to the expectations of the club causing widespread rumors of the midfielder’s exit from the club.
Mkhitaryan was dropped to accommodate the strike duo
Henrikh Mkhitaryan runs past a player in Wayne Rooney’s Testimonial match
However, Mourinho insisted that the midfielder was only dropped to include the Strike Duo of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford together in the playing XI. Further, the Portuguese coach also said that pairing the strike duo might be difficult in the future.
Ahead of United’s Champions League clash with Basel on Wednesday, Mourinho said: “There are no questions about Anthony Martial and no questions about Chris Smalling.
“There are always questions about somebody in a certain moment, a certain match and a certain period that didn’t play. The story is always the same. In some positions, when you don’t have injuries, you have lots of options in other positions.” he added.
Further, the manager also said that it was difficult to include the Armenian in the squad, due to the availability of options in United’s arsenal.
“The answer is every simple – until the international board change the rules, I can only start with 11!” Mourinho concluded.
Author’s take
The rift between the duo never existed, as confirmed by the manager itself. However, it is also not certain that the Armenian midfielder would be in the scheme of things for the Portuguese manager, after failing to link up well in the season thus far. Only a drastic transformation would change the season for Mkhitaryan, while Mourinho keeps his option open to replace the midfielder.
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