Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has offered his thoughts on why Henrikh Mkhitaryan has not been involved as much as he would like this season.
The 27-year-old joined the club in the summer from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £27 million, but has struggled thus far in a red shirt.
The Armenia captain was hauled off at half time in the 2-1 Manchester derby defeat last month and has not been seen since.
Whilst the creative midfielder had picked up an injury during the international break last month, he has since returned to training and even been pictured with the rest of the team at Carrington.
But, much to the surprise of many fans and pundits, Mkhitaryan has still been frozen out by his manager, with the midfielder watching on from the stands during the 1-0 win over Manchester City this week.
However, Mourinho has dismissed speculation that the ex-Dortmund star’s future at the club is already over and simply stated that he needs to get up to speed.
“He is not injured,” Mourinho told reporters at Carrington on Friday.
“Sometimes I confuse the word ‘fit’ in the English language. Sometimes you can say that it is ‘not injured’, but you could also say that you are in great condition and ready to compete. That is different for me as we use different words in Portuguese for the different situations. Mkhitaryan is not injured, he is training with the team 100 per cent.”
Mourinho then likened Mkhitaryan’s situation to that of Angel Di Maria and Willian, two players he signed at previous clubs Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively.
“I think Micki will work here for sure,” Mourinho added.
“I don’t like to speak about players from other clubs because I don’t want to be misinterpreted, but I don’t think he’ll mind. A player who had a problem to play when he first arrived was Willian. He went through a process and then, after a few months, he became a top player. Then, when we won the championship, he was phenomenal and still is. That is just an example.
“Similarly, Di Maria had to learn a lot about his game when he came into Madrid from Portugal. Sometimes this is what happens. It happens with defenders, but it is often easier for them to adapt than attackers. Some go straight to success and others it takes more time.
“In Micky’s case the process was interrupted by injury, which does not help the process of evolution. Being out for a month meant he has had to go through the process of getting match fit, then once he has that he needs the competitive level to do it. We believe him and, sooner or later, there will be no problem.”
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