Mkhitaryan dropped after row with Mourinho
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is battling to save his Manchester United after falling out with boss José Mourinho, according to ESPN.
Sources told ESPN that Mkhitaryan was dropped from United’s squad having argued with the Portuguese manager during a video analysis session at Carrington last month, where the Armenian disagreed with Mourinho’s assessment of his performance against Brighton on November 25th.
Mkhitaryan has been absent from seven of United’s last eight matchday squads, and now the former Borussia Dortmund man must fight to prove his place in the club’s squad.
Mourinho was unhappy with Mkhitaryan’s defensive work rate and a mistake the player made against Brighton, where he came on as a second-half substitute last month, singling out the playmaker in front of the rest of his teammates.
The 28-year old responded to the remarks, continuing to debate Mourinho’s assessment of him in the corridor outside the analysis suit at Carrington.
Sources told ESPN in September that the former Chelsea boss was unhappy with Mkhitaryan’s contributions against top-six sides, but the player had appeared to have overcome his manager’s reservations, making an impressive start to the season.
However, since Mourinho was unimpressed with his performance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in early November, Mkhitaryan hasn’t started since.
When questioned as to why Mkhitaryan hadn’t been included in the squad on Wednesday, Mourinho said;
I can only have six [outfield] players on the bench and I try to have some balance on the bench — I had two defenders and [Daley] Blind who can play in different areas. I had Ashley Young to cover me all of the wing and the wing-back position.
I had [Ander] Herrera as a midfield player, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] as a striker and Marcus [Rashford] as a second striker and winger. I played [Anthony] Martial, [Juan] Mata and [Jesse] Lingard in the team. To have Micki means that I don’t have one of them and, in this moment, I believe the other ones they deserve [the chance to play].
Mkhitaryan only signed for United 18 months ago, and Inter Milan are believed to be interested in his signature, with a swap deal including Joao Mario potentially on the cards when the window opens next month.