Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan is nice, but it still won’t happen

Manchester United have reportedly offered Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a makeweight for Alexis Sanchez. The Armenian is a nice option for Arsenal, but I’d be very surprised to see any deal completed.

Alexis Sanchez is seemingly at the heart of a bidding war. It is a war that, unfortunately, pits two Premier League clubs against each other, meaning that Arsenal may find it difficult to avoid selling to a direct rival.  But it is one that is offering unique opportunities in the price that is being paid.

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Current reports state that Manchester City, the team that have been chasing Sanchez for some time, including a £60 million deadline-day bid in the summer, are only willing to pay £20 million this January, knowing that they are front-runners to sign Sanchez on a free at the end of the season. That is a price that I do not expect Arsenal to expect.

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This is where City’s direct rivals enter the fray. On Thursday morning, it was revealed that Jose Mourinho is keen to beat his old adversary, Pep Guardiola, to the signing of a pivotal player that has attracted the City manager for some time, especially considering he worked with him while at Barcelona.

Mourinho, though, being the transfer-savvy, experienced, and wily coach that he is, recognises that Sanchez, in a vacuum, would choose Guardiola and not him. So, instead of appealing to Sanchez, he decides instead to appeal to his owners with an extremely intriguing offer: £25 million and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a makeweight. Arsene Wenger has a decision to make.

Arsenal will have to replace Sanchez one way or another. Wenger himself has stated that if he does leave, then a ‘top-quality’ player will be brought in to fill the void he would leave behind. So it makes sense, then, to cut out the middleman: involve the replacement in the sale, not busying yourself with a whole separate deal that has its own problems and complications.

And Mkhitaryan is an intriguing makeweight. While he has struggled to settle at United, failing to establish his quality other than a fleeting spurt into life at the start of this season, he is still a player of great pedigree and potential. In his last season at Borussia Dortmund, for example, the Armenian scored 11 goals and assisted a further 15 in just 31 games. And after 414 minutes of Premier League football this season, he had already scored one goal and amassed five assists. Admittedly, he hasn’t had a direct involvement in a goal since, but the talent is there and the price is wonderful, if the report is accurate.

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The problem is history. Swap deals are extremely rare. The last one I can remember Arsenal being involved in was Hector Bellerin for Cesc Fabregas, where Bellerin was a little-known La Masia. The last high profile one that I can recollect involved William Gallas and Ashley Cole in 2006. Swap deals just don’t really happen, and while this one would be nice, I don’t expect much to change here.