Henrikh Mkhitaryan has finally succeeded in making his loan move to Roma permanent after a couple of back and forth between him and Arsenal football club.
The 31-year-old Armenia attacking midfielder was forced on loan to Roma in September 2019 when he has already played three Premier League matches for Arsenal during the 2019-2020 season.
The attacking midfielder who joined Arsenal in 2018 in a swap deal which saw Alexis Sanchez moved to Manchester United from Arsenal while he moved to the Emirate Stadium from Old Trafford, played 59 matches in which he scored a total of 9 goals and provided a total of 13 assists in all competitions for Arsenal.
Mkhitaryan’s initial contract with Arsenal was expected to expire in June 2021 while his initial loan move to Roma was billed to expire in June 2020. However, the one season loan was extended to cover up for the three months coronavirus break.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was expected back at Arsenal in August 2020 but decided to push for a permanent deal with the Italian Serie A club. He finally got what he wanted on Monday, August 31.
“Everyone at Arsenal thanks Micki for his contribution to the club and wishes him all the best for his future with Roma,” Arsenal tweeted via their official Twitter handle on Monday.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s time at Roma
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been very professional with the way he managed his loan spell at Roma. He accepted his fate and took his chances throughout the duration of the Italian Serie A 2019-2020 season.
Though he was not able to win any title with Roma unlike his former teammates at Arsenal who won the 2020 FA Cup and the FA Community Shield, he was instrumental in helping Roma to finish 5th in Italian Serie A.
Paulo Fonseca, the manager of AS Roma, trusted the Armenia attacking midfielder well enough to give him a total of 27 appearances in all competitions including 22 Serie A appearances. In those games, the former Arsenal star scored a total of 9 goals and provided 6 assists.
The new deal of Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Roma and representatives of Henrikh Mkhitaryan have not made the details of Mkhitaryan’s new deal public. The only information in the public domain is that Arsenal reached a mutual understanding with Mkhitaryan which allowed him to leave as a free agent despite having a year left on his contract.
It was reported that the manager of the club Mikel Arteta was not having the midfielder in his plans and Arsenal didn’t want to keep paying his £180,000-a-week wage. Also, Mkhitaryan has always insisted that he wants to continue his career at Roma but the financial aspect of the deal delayed it until August 31.
It is believed that Arsenal decided to let him go for free in order to enable Roma to match-up the £180,000-a-week wage the midfielder was earning at Arsenal.
“Now the preparation begins with my new challenge & my 2nd-year adventure in @SerieA_EN”, Henrikh Mkhitaryan tweeted on Monday. “I love the city of #Roma, I love this club and I count the fans in my heart. I will give all of my effort in helping us achieve our goals!”
I‘m delighted to announce that I’ve permanently joined the #giallorossi 💛❤️🐺👊🏻 I‘d like to thank @arsenal , its personnel & the millions of #gunners all whom supported me over the past 1,5Y. A special thanks to A. Wenger for having brought me to the club and for his trust in me pic.twitter.com/KD8QJuhAbT
— Henrikh Mkhitaryan (@HenrikhMkh) August 31, 2020
