Arsenal: What to do with Henrikh Mkhitaryan?

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has seemingly forgotten how to play football. What should Arsenal do with an ageing, hugely expensive drain on resources?

With Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal had a problem. A near-30-year-old who clearly had little interest in playing for the club, splintered the dressing room, and could walk out the door for nothing in a matter of months. That is not the kind of player that teams want to have in their midst. And yet, here was the Chilean, striding his way through the Emirates pitch with his heart elsewhere.

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Last January, Ivan Gazidis decided that this mire must be solved. Sanchez could not be allowed to leave for free. Neither could he stay such was the distraction he was causing and the lack of effort he was showing. Something must be done.

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What Arsenal did was actually rather smart. Rather than settle for a much-reduced fee for a player that everyone could see they were desperate to sell, they instead looked to swap Sanchez for another player who was as equally unwanted at his respective club. And so, after a January full of negotiation, Sanchez was swapped for Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It was far from ideal, but it was very much a case of making the best of a bad situation.

And initially, it looked like a very positive move. Mkhitaryan recorded three assists in a 5-1 win over Everton. He was linking up well with his Borussia Dortmund foil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had been signed in the same window, and he was re-energised in Arsene Wenger’s attack-orientated style. But as the season progressed, bar a few glimpses here and there, his performances deteriorated. And now, three months into Unai Emery’s tenure, he looks as if he has forgotten how to play football altogether.

These issues culminated in a rather dastardly performance in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth. Mkhitaryan was horribly loose in possession, his passing was inaccurate and slow, his touch was consistently poor, and he offered little creativity, bar a couple of moments in the second half. And so, it seems as though Arsenal have solved one problem by creating another.

So, how do they solve the Mkhitaryan problem? Well, not a lot. Mkhitaryan is contracted through the 2020/21 season. And he signed a rather hefty deal, reported to be worth as much as £200,000-a-week — the size of Mkhitaryan’s contract is said to be a reason why Aaron Ramsey will leave at the end of the season.

It will not be easy to sell him for any decent fee with such a sizable wage to shift. Moreover, at 29, there is little reason for clubs to heavily pursue him. Not only is he expensive, but he is reaching the end of the prime of his career and will have both a limited usage and resale value. And so, it is easy to see how Arsenal might be stuck with Mkhitaryan without taking a substantially cut-price deal.

Maybe that is for the best. There is still a decent player, somewhere, within Mkhitaryan. And perhaps time is all that is needed. But until Mkhitaryan delivers on his talent, he may provide more problems than production.