By signing a contract, Armenian captain and midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan made his transfer from Manchester United to Arsenal official on Monday, with Arsenal Manage Arsene Wenger calling him a “a world class player.”
After months of speculation, Mkhitaryan’s agreed on Saturday to join Arsenal in a player swap that saw Chilean Alexis Sanchez move to Manchester United.
In addition to celebrating his 29th birthday over the weekend, Mkhitaryan completed the necessary paperwork and medical exams to officially join Arsenal and don his new team uniform.
“I’m very happy that we could finish this deal and I’m very happy to be here. It’s a dream come true because I’ve always dreamed of playing for Arsenal. Now that I’m here, I’ll do my best for this club to create history,” Mkhitaryan said in remarks published in the ArsenalPlayer.
“We’re replacing a very good player with a very good player, a world-class player with a world-class player,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“He’s [Mkhitaryan] a very complete player. He creates chances, he defends well, he can absorb distances and he’s very committed as well. I must say he’s a player who has all the attributes. Maybe where he’s a bit short is on goalscoring but he has improved that. If you look at the number of goals he’s scored in his career, it’s quite impressive overall,” added Wenger.
“I’m very excited to get a player in who will be committed and focused. It is vital as well to have players who have experience, because we have a very good bunch of young players but we know that it’s not sufficient in the Premier League today to put them all in together. You also need a good weight of experience in your team and he will contribute to that,” continued the Arsenal manager.
Mkhitaryan signed with Manchester United in 2016 when the club plucked him from Borussia Dortmund.
