Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan transfer suddenly a balancing act

It’s funny to think that Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still on the Arsenal books, but now the trick is figuring out how to make a permanent move work.

Arsenal‘s proper disposal of Henrikh Mkhitaryan is getting a bit sticky. The Armenian has been outspoken about his desire to get away from the Emirates, though most of his criticism is directed at Unai Emery, who he has been verbally slapping around.

Still, Mkhitaryan has nothing to come back to. Even if Mikel Arteta hatched some plan to utilize the Armenian, it’s unfathomable that he could fit into the current set-up. He can’t play wide anymore, as our winger stocks are overflowing and he’s not going to play centrally either.

So the question now becomes how we offload him permanently while still getting some kind of return on investment. With so many financial questions up in the air this summer, what we can raise from selling players is going to be a massive lift to the transfer funds.

Which is why the gulf between what Mkhitaryan is worth and what we can hope to get from him has become something of a balancing act.

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A report came out not more than a few days ago that the Gunners might be looking for something in the range of £23m for Mkhitaryan, which I reckon is pretty much akin to highway robbery. But then again, he is producing goals and he still has some years left in his playing time.

Still, that’s a steep price. And it’s way steeper than the £10m that Roma are hoping to pay for his permanent services. It sounds like we are asking for the absolute top of his possible value while Roma are asking to spend the absolute bare minimum.

That’s a tough situation to navigate, but it has to be properly navigated in order to ensure we, A. don’t get stuck with Mkhitaryan for another year and B. still get paid a decent amount for him.

What this comes down to is pretty simple. At the end of the day, we should be willing to sell Mkhitaryan for £10m. Honestly, I’d sell him for just about anything just to have him off the books. But don’t tell Roma that. Somehow, those in charge of negotiating this deal have to strike a middle ground that makes sense for all parties involved. it’s just hard to think of a way that the Gunners win in this scenario.

Then again, it’s a win to have him off the books, so I guess we can’t be picky. At least… not too picky.