Former Manchester United defender Phil Neville has suggested that Jose Mourinho’s decision to belatedly introduce Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the Premier League could be the best thing for the winger in the long term.
Mkhitaryan, who has recently revealed that his delayed involvement was his own fault because of a lack of fitness, has now started United’s last two Premier League games after only making one appearance from the start in the club’s first 13 encounters.
He scored his first goal in the English top flight in his side’s 1-0 success over Tottenham Hotspur, utilising his pace to break clear of the Spurs defence before unleashing a powerful and lofty right footed strike beyond Hugo Lloris.
Neville said: “I think what’s justified is, in his performances in the last three or four games, is that actually what Jose Mourinho did was probably the right thing for the long-term development of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Because, we saw his performance in the Manchester derby, he did look like a fish out water and the pace was too quick for him.
“He looked a shadow of the player that we saw for Borussia Dortmund, so maybe it was the best thing for him. He did suffer from a few niggles, and probably the size and the expectation at United, maybe he needed time to adapt. Now we’re seeing the real Mkhitaryan, great player, great goal today, the only disappointment was the fact that he came off at the end of the game.”
Mkhitaryan was substituted in the 84th minute against Spurs after picking up an ankle injury and is a doubt for Wednesday’s match against Crystal Palace.
He has undoubtedly brought added quality to United in wide areas, and emphasized his ability to come from the wing and burst through the middle with the ball at his feet against Spurs.
United have lacked a real counter attacking threat for large parts of this campaign while looking slow to spot potential breakaways.
However Mkhitarayn can be the perfect counter-attacking option for Mourinho in the future, with his extensive experience of playing in that position.
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