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Should Everton move for Henrikh Mkhitaryan?

Armenian star could be on the way out in January

Leicester City v Manchester United - The FA Community Shield
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

Word in the tabloids is that attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan could be on his way out of Manchester United. While it sounds unbelievable considering he was signed just this summer for £27million, he is yet to play a full game for Jose Mourinho, who also seems very confused as to where to play him.

The Armenian, who won the German Player of the Year award last season with BVB Dortmund, is an attacking midfielder who excels controlling the play from the middle, and is equally adept at shooting with both feet.

Guess which team is currently struggling with getting their incumbent playmaker to perform? If you guessed anything but Everton, why are you here?

Ross Barkley has struggled mightily this season. Manager Ronald Koeman is at his wit’s end on how to get him to kick on. The Wavertree-born midfielder has been irresponsible with the ball, has failed to distribute the ball well and found himself dropped from the site that took on Manchester City.

He returned to the side against Burnley over the weekend, but apart from stinging the goalkeeper’s palms a couple of times, he did precious little in a game that the Blues should have had wrapped up by halftime and instead went on to lose.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has been trying out Wayne Rooney and Paul Pogba in the no. 10 spot. Mkhitaryan hasn’t even been in the 18-man squad for most games this season. Whatever he did to tick off ‘The Special One’, he is well and truly entrenched in the dog house.

From The Guardian -

Yes, the word on the street is that one of Manchester United’s much-vaunted summer signings could join the ranks of the briefest of transfers. The Armenian’s absence from the United squad has been conspicuous recently, as the team flounders and founders with him not even sitting on the bench, and word around the campfire (the campfire next to the street) is that José Mourinho has seen enough, set to pack Mkhitaryan off to whoever will have him. Poor ol’ Henrikh.

However, from the equally (not) trustworthy Manchester Evening News -

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is fully fit and training intensively in an attempt to return to the Manchester United first-team and has no intention of leaving in the January transfer window.

M.E.N. Sport has also been told claims Mkhitaryan could be sold in the new year are 'completely false' and the Armenia international is focused on his Old Trafford career.

Should United decide to cut their losses and sell off the player or even send him out on loan in January, there will be a host of teams lined up for his signature. If Koeman wants to make anything of this season, he will be in that line with Farhad Moshiri’s chequebook in hand.

At just 27 years of age, he still has many good years ahead of him and could be the spark that the Toffees have desperately needed this season.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan characteristics
WhoScored.com
Henrikh Mkhitaryan stats
TransferMarkt.com