Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan singing the song we all want to hear

Arsenal avoided a sticky situation when they swapped Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the Armenian has started to sing a song we all love.

Arsenal were pretty damn irresponsible (or blinded) when they allowed both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to whittle their way towards the end of their respective contracts at the same time. Arsene Wenger may have foolheartedly believed that he could retain them both, but in the end, that was not – and arguably was never going to be – the case.

As such, when the potential opportunity arose to swap the wantaway Alexis for someone of Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s quality, the stars seemed to be aligning. It felt like a divine intervention.

The Armenian had fallen on hard times at Manchester United playing for the stale Jose Mourinho and was begging to get away from his unjust imprisonment. He did, after all, point out back in 2011 that he wanted to play for Arsenal.

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Swaps are rare enough, but a swap with Jose Mourinho is even more rare. Yet it happened, and it’s safe to say that the Gunners got the best out of the deal. Alexis has been a dispossession mess over at United, continuing right where he left off here in North London, while Mkhitaryan has been a miracle worker, contributing to goals and assists like it comes easy for him.

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Of course, it does. And Mkhitaryan has pointed out why he was so keen to swap out his spot at United for a new hope at Arsenal.

“It’s important for me to play in an offensive team,” he said.

Which simply reinforces everything we know about Mourinho and his inability to properly utilize playmakers. Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah are both Mourinho rejects and Mkhitaryan fits in that company when he’s used properly.

The press is reporting this as a ‘swipe’ at Mourinho, which I won’t dispute, because I love swiping at Mourinho myself, but it’s more than that. This was an intelligent move for the Gunners to put together. One that, even at the time, had many doubting if it could even happen simply because of how wonderful it seemed.

Everyone is turning out rather nicely. Mkhitaryan is a proven commodity who has produced everywhere he’s gone – save United.

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Alexis is a singular bulldozer who was getting frustrated by the toils of England. It’s easy to see who you’d rather have, and the Gunners chose well.