Friday 14 October 2016 10:39, UK
Manchester United travel to Liverpool for a huge game on Monday Night Football, but summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan is unlikely to play. Adam Bate examines Mkhitaryan’s injury-hit start at Old Trafford…
When Henrikh Mkhitaryan signed for Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2013, his new coach Jurgen Klopp offered him a €50 wager. If the Armenian could score seven goals with his first 30 shots on goal, he would win the bet. If he couldn't, Klopp took the money.
Mkhitaryan promptly scored twice in his first away game, a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt. Klopp paid up. "I left it lying around just in case," he admitted. "He's a weapon in front of goal." Mkhitaryan actually finished with nine goals from 70 shots, but he'd made his point.
It seems that Manchester United will have to wait a little longer for a return on their investment. Eleven games into the season and Mkhitaryan has started only once, a woeful full debut against Manchester City in which he appeared utterly overwhelmed.
The 27-year-old barely seemed to get on the ball but the statistics showed that he still managed to lose possession on 12 occasions - more than any other player on the pitch. The only surprise was that Jose Mourinho waited until half-time to hook him.
Given that Mkhitaryan had been heralded as the thinking fan's signing of the summer, it was a little alarming. This was supposed to be the intelligent playmaker who would unlock the key to United's attacking puzzle. Supporters' long-time Wesley Sneijder fantasy turned reality.
And yet, Mourinho's search for a solution has not yet involved the man Klopp likened to a chess grandmaster. Injury has kept him out since the City game, but the suggestion he was being played out of position prior to that does not stand up to scrutiny. Mkhitaryan thrived on the right for Dortmund.
It was from that position cutting inside from the right flank that he topped the Bundesliga assist rankings last season as well as scoring 23 goals in all competitions. He was rewarded for his efforts with Kicker's players' player of the year award.
But it's worth noting that Kicker also pointed out that it was only under Thomas Tuchel that Mkhitaryan's potential was finally unfolding. After that fast start, he'd had his moments under Klopp, but it had not always been easy for him or the team.
As Klopp's Dortmund unravelled in 2014, Mkhitaryan found himself cast as the villain. Having flopped in the Bundesliga, Dortmund's Champions League elimination to Real Madrid was a huge blow and the midfielder was the man who wasted the best chances.
"People watching must have thought I was trying to miss," he said. Indeed, Mkhitaryan admitted that for all his talent, the step up was difficult. "The biggest problem I had was that I came from a league which you can't compare with the Bundesliga," he explained.
"At Shakhtar, matches often panned out the same way. The opposition defended deep, we always had the ball and if we scored first, the game was practically decided. In Germany that's not how it is. Even sides in the bottom half can put you under a lot of pressure."
And yet, even his time at Shakhtar had its challenges. "It wasn't easy for him from the start," said coach Mircea Lucescu. Only in Mkhitaryan's second season did he find his best form with the goals - 25 of them - coming in season three once moved into an advanced role.
It was after that final year at Shakhtar that Lucescu offered a warning to the player and his potential suitors, Liverpool among them. "At a different team with a different game organisation," said the Romanian, "his qualities that he showed here may vanish."
History suggests that Mkhitaryan gets there in the end, but that he needs support. He received it at Dortmund in the form of Kevin Grosskreutz - Mr Dortmund - the player with whom he shared a room and the man who immediately taught him 20 classic club songs.
At Shakhtar, his language skills paid off as he communicated with the team's vast Brazilian contingent in Portuguese - one of the six languages in which Mkhitaryan is now fluent. He'll do his bit to adapt on and off the pitch, but he might require some patience too.
The early signs are that Manchester United will be willing to wait. "Because I know he is a super player and I know for sure he will succeed," said Mourinho, "I am not in a hurry to say he plays every game now from the beginning, to show everyone how good he is."
The coach of Liverpool, Manchester United's great rivals and their next opponents, already knows how good Mkhitaryan can be. So while the midfielder won't necessarily be a factor on Monday, Klopp will not be in the mood to bet against him again just yet either.
