Manchester United's history is replete with tales of instant impacts, of homegrown youngsters bursting to prominence or new signings slotting seamlessly into their new surroundings.
From the Busby Babes to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a long line of players have strolled into the first team and, without breaking stride, walked the walk at Old Trafford. For Henrikh Mkhitaryan, it has been a different story.
The Armenian arrived from Borussia Dortmund last summer without worldwide renown, but with a reputation built in football’s outposts and cemented in the Bundesliga. Upon joining United, his name was known well enough to provoke unanimous excitement; hipsters nodded their approval, tipsters beamed in anticipation.
Then came the twist: Mkhitaryan’s first start came in September’s Manchester derby, from which he was removed at half-time as United were collectively overrun in a disjointed first period. He didn’t resurface for another start until late November, following dual battles with injury and assimilation, prompting widespread clamour for Jose Mourinho to use the Armenian more often.
“There was no bad relation with him [Mourinho],” Henrikh later revealed. “It was always good but the problem wasn't him, it was me.”
Such candour and accountability are seldom aired in public by footballers, but then Mkhitaryan is a rarity in many ways. A studious thinker, keen chess player and proficient in seven languages, he has also had to overcome a personal tragedy the scale of which befalls few: the death of his father during his formative years.
MY FATHER, MY IDOL
Hamlet Mkhitaryan was an Armenian international striker plying his trade with Valence in France’s second tier before he was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 32. When he passed away a year later, Henrikh was seven years old. “The year after my father died, I started football training,” United’s no.22 has revealed.
“He was the drive for me, he was my idol. I said to myself: ‘I have to run just like him. I have to shoot just like him.’ By the time I was 10 years old, my entire life was football. Training, reading, watching, even playing football on PlayStation. I was totally focused on it. I especially loved the creative players — the maestros. I always wanted to play like Zidane, Kaka and Hamlet.
“If he was still alive, maybe I would be a lawyer or a doctor right now. Instead, I am a footballer. Many people back home in Armenia tell me that I look exactly like my father when I run. They say: ‘Henrikh, you look the same, you run the same. You remind me so much of Hamlet when I watch you.’ I wouldn’t know because I can’t stand to watch myself, but it makes sense. I first dreamed of running free on the pitch by watching the videotapes of him after he was gone.”
ADJUSTING TO GERMANY
Football wanderlust gripped Henrikh in his early years, and after a successful and influential four-month stint training with Sao Paulo as a 14-year-old, he moved away from Armenia permanently at the age of 20. He joined Ukraine’s Metalurh Donetsk, then Shakhtar Donetsk two years later, and his goal-laden form with the latter alerted the eagle-eyed scouts of Borussia Dortmund.
An impressive debut season under Jurgen Klopp preceded a disastrous second term in the Bundesliga, both personally and collectively, but the arrival of Thomas Tuchel at the start of 2015/16 heralded a renaissance for the artful Armenian.
“It was a very hard period for me,” said Henrikh, of his second campaign. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. I had many hard nights in my apartment in Dortmund, all alone, just thinking and thinking. I didn’t want to go outside, even to have dinner. But fate can be interesting. Thomas Tuchel came to Dortmund and he changed everything for me. He came to me and said, “Listen, I want to get everything out of you.” I thought he was just trying to make me feel better. I was doubting his words. But he looked at me very seriously, and said, “Micki, you are going to be great.”’
A year on, those words proved prophetic as Mkhitaryan was named the Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Season, hitting 23 goals in all competitions and assisting another 15 as Tuchel’s swarming side thrilled audiences everywhere. A major part of the transformation had been the manager’s method of appealing to Henrikh’s intellect, urging him to discover his own solutions within the pages of W. Timothy Gallwey’s book, The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance. “It’s like it was written especially for me,” Mkhitaryan later admitted.
MOVING TO MANCHESTER
Though he had rediscovered and raised his best form in Germany, the gifted Armenian was unable to resist the lure of testing himself in English football. With just a year remaining on his contract, Dortmund had little option but to comply when United put in a substantial bid for the then-27-year-old.
While Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba arrived amid huge fanfare last summer, there was a greater sense of unknown over Mkhitaryan. His name was more familiar than that of fellow new recruit Eric Bailly, but Henrikh’s capture provided the greatest source of intrigue among observers. Hence, when he disappeared from the first-team picture throughout the autumn, idle speculation began over his future at Old Trafford.
Dortmund were credited with an interest in taking him back on loan, but the point of Mkhitaryan’s Manchester derby disappointment had been largely missed. If he had enough faith to start Henrikh in a fixture of such magnitude, then Mourinho had already been convinced of his ability. Time and patience were required by all parties as those abilities were readied for English football.
Looking back, Mourinho recently said: “Mkhitaryan was completely open and understood the difference between me and other coaches he had. He worked a lot without playing, but he worked a lot to try to reach the level.”
FINDING HIS FEET AT UNITED
The hard graft eventually paid off. Henrikh’s second start, a 4-0 Europa League win over Feyenoord, yielded the man-of-the-match award, as did his third, against West Ham in the EFL Cup. His fifth yielded his first goal, a high-speed slalom effort against Zorya Luhansk, while his sixth brought his first Premier League goal, a resoundingly-taken winner against Tottenham.
After the latter, the tributes began to flow. “He’s such a quality player, he’s got so many attributes,” said Michael Carrick. “He’s so clever and so talented and he’s such a nice lad, his attitude is top class.” Fellow midfielder Ander Herrera added: "Now we are seeing the best Mkhitaryan. Or almost the best because I think he can be even better."
A sprinter’s pace and a chess player’s brain, allied to astonishing vision and incision; Henrikh’s attributes are plain for all to see, and their gradual integration to United’s approach under Jose Mourinho has already made for some thrilling moments this term – none more than his third Reds goal, a flabbergasting scorpion kick against Sunderland on Boxing Day which moved the manager to gush: “It was phenomenal. All his career he has scored beautiful goals. It was a great moment and for him very important, with the feeling that people love him at Old Trafford. That is a very important feeling for him.”
FIRST-SEASON REFLECTIONS
With Mkhitaryan starting, United lost only twice after his full debut against City; the 10-man FA Cup defeat at Chelsea in which he was substituted with the game goalless, and in the Premier League loss at Arsenal which was bookended by the prioritised Europa League semi-final against Celta Vigo.
He ended his maiden campaign in England with 41 outings and 11 goals, winning United’s Goal of the Month award five times in six months and notching crucial efforts in the Reds’ triumphant Europa League campaign, including the trophy-clinching second against Ajax. After a slow start, the Armenian became one of the season’s sleeper hits, and he is determined to retain his hard-earned importance to the cause.
"I was thinking that I would be here as a starting line-up player but when I arrived I saw that there were 25 players fighting for their place and I understood that it wasn't going to be easy,” he admitted.
“I had a bad game against Manchester City but that is in the past so I kept working. Now I understand why I have got my chance and I will keep it, I will hold it, because it is very important for me to play, to be a part of Manchester United.”