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Was Joining Manchester United A Wrong Move By This €46.5 Million Superstar?

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There was a great hype surrounding Manchester United’s latest signings to face this upcoming season, as the Red Devils were looking to be relevant once again after a couple of lousy years under David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal.

The next man up for the United boss duty was “the Special One” Jose Mourinho, who immediately asked several players to complement an already very nice roster, and after a big investment by the Glazer family, there was no more room for excuses at Old Trafford.

However, of the 4 major signings that the team managed to complete; Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly, the lone guy that has made an impact for his team is the defender, Eric Bailly, as Pogba and Zlatan have been vastly inconsistent for most of the season and are  yet to contribute in the way that we all expected.

As for the Armenian, he isn’t even starting for Mourinho’s side, and he seems to be the player that’s having the worst time among all new additions, so it’s time to take a look at this move and ask ourselves: Was joining Manchester United a wrong move for Mkhitaryan?

The talented attacking midfielder, who is rated at €46.5 Million by the CIES Football Observatory, arrived at Old Trafford after being the best player in the Bundesliga the past season, and since his arrival at Borussia Dortmund from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, there was no doubt about what this guy is capable of when given the opportunity.

Having said that, the £26.3m that the Glazers spent in acquiring his services seemed like a real bargain for a team that was looking to be dominant once again and needed a boost in that position, especially since the decline in Wayne Rooney’s performance from the past few seasons.

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You’d have thought that Henrikh was going to be a regular guy in the starting XI for Mourinho through all the season, but after some physical problems he wasn’t able to contribute from scratch in the beginning of the season, making a couple of appearances from the bench but failing to live up to the expectations.

So, after a couple of subpar performances, it seems that the 27 year old has been completely erased and axed by the Portuguese boss, who has only granted him 107 minutes so far this season in 4 appearances with just one start for the team, and he hasn’t even been called to play in his team’s last 4 or 5 games, something really concerning for the Armenian and the United fans. Injuries have halted his his presence on the pitch but besides that, looking at his performance so far, he hasn’t been that impressive – considering his form in the Manchester Derby.

We all know Mourinho’s character and that he takes his personal agenda and his issues with some players to the pitch, but after an investment of that kind and considering the kind of talent that he has on the bench, we thought that it was going to be different this time, but I guess we were wrong.

It’s too early to say that this was a wrong move by Henrikh, but if we take a look at some of his former team mate’s (such as Shinji Kagawa and Mario Gotze) fate after they left Dortmund, the situation gets kind of concerning.

There’s no doubt that Mkhitaryan was more than ready for a bigger challenge, but he needs playing time in order to do what he knows best, and even if he has struggled a bit so far, he has the offensive repertoire to start for every single team in the world, so Mourinho needs to get over himself and start looking to his bench, where he might have the answer he’s so desperately looking for.