{"id":377390,"date":"2017-11-25T09:21:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-25T09:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=377390"},"modified":"2017-11-25T09:21:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-25T09:21:23","slug":"mkhitaryan-criticised-mourinho-dortmund-show-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/mkhitaryan-criticised-mourinho-dortmund-show-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Mkhitaryan criticised by Mourinho as Dortmund show interest"},"content":{"rendered":"
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has criticised Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s recent form – as Borussia Dortmund indicate they would be interested in re-signing the Armenia forward.<\/p>\n
Mkhitaryan, who\u00a0joined\u00a0from Dortmund in July 2016 for \u00a326.3m, has been left out of United’s last two match-day squads.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old will return to the United squad for Saturday’s Premier League game against Brighton.<\/p>\n
Mourinho said Mkhitaryan’s performances have been “decreasing step by step”.<\/p>\n
Mkhitaryan started 10 of United’s first 11 Premier League games before he was dropped after being substituted in the 62nd minute of the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on 5 November.<\/p>\n
“I was not happy with his last performances,” said Mourinho of a player who has scored twice in 16 games this season.<\/p>\n
“It’s not one or two, I am talking about three, four or five.”<\/p>\n
Mkhitaryan made a modest start to his United career and did not start a Premier League game in almost three months after being substituted at half-time in the defeat to Manchester City last September.<\/p>\n
His form improved during the second half of the season and he scored as\u00a0United beat Ajax\u00a0in the Europa League final in Stockholm in May.<\/p>\n
“He started well this season but his performance levels, goalscoring, assists, high pressing, bringing the team with him as number 10, were decreasing step by step,” added Mourinho.<\/p>\n
“That was enough [to be dropped] because the others worked to have a chance. Everybody works to have a chance. It’s as simple as that.”<\/p>\n
Dortmund have a history of buying back big-name players they have recently sold.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Shinji Kagawa\u00a0returned to the German club\u00a0in 2014 after two years at Manchester United.<\/p>\n
Germany playmaker Mario Gotze arrived back in Dortmund in 2016 after three seasons at Bayern Munich while Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin had a season at Real Madrid and a loan spell with Liverpool before returning, initially on loan, after a two-year absence in 2014<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has criticised Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s recent form – as Borussia Dortmund indicate they would be interested in re-signing the Armenia forward. Mkhitaryan, who\u00a0joined\u00a0from Dortmund in July 2016 for \u00a326.3m, has been left out of United’s last two match-day squads. The 28-year-old will return to the United squad for Saturday’s Premier League […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":377393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[102,104,14907],"yoast_head":"\n