Manchester United have confirmed the arrival of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan on a four-year contract.
The 27 year old made 140 appearances and scored 41 goals for Borussia
Dortmund after joining them in 2013 and last season scored 11 goals and
registered an impressive 15 assists across all competitions. Henrikh
was voted Bundesliga Player of the Season for 2015/16 in a poll of his
fellow professionals, and he was named in the Team of the Season
following votes by the players’ union in Germany. The midfielder is
Armenia’s all-time top scorer, with 19 goals in 59 appearances since his
international debut in January 2007. Henrikh captains his national team
and has received the Armenian Footballer of the Year award on five
occasions.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan speaking to manUtd.com said: “I am very proud to join
Manchester United, this move is a dream come true for me. I am excited
to play for a club with such an illustrious history and hope to be part
of it for a long time. I thank the trust the club and Jose Mourinho have
put in me. Finally, I believe playing for such a great club honours my
father’s memory, and the inspiration and drive he gave to me when I was
young.”
José Mourinho speaking to Man Utd.com said: “Henrikh is a very talented
footballer who has been in such prolific form for both his club and his
country. He is a real team player with great skill, vision and also has a
good eye for goal. I am delighted he has chosen to sign for United. I
believe he will make an impact on the team very quickly as his style of
play is suited to the Premier League. We are all looking forward to
working with him.”
“First of all, in Zlatan, we have brought in the player who was voted
the best player in the French league and in Micki we have brought the
player voted the best player in the Bundesliga,” Jose said.
“He was voted not by the fans, not by the journalists but voted by
fellow players and that is what means more, I believe, because when your
fellow players choose you it means a lot.
“Micki is a fantastic player and what I like more is something
undeniable, which is the number of goals he scores by not being a
striker. His number of goals per season is really high for somebody who
is not a striker and the number of assists is also very clear. It shows
his creativity, vision and concept of collective play, and is something I
believe is really important for a club like us.
“We try to be dominant and will, for sure, face teams with a very
defensive profile so his capacity of acceleration of the game, and he
has a change of speed with and without the ball, is very, very important
for a club like ours.”