Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is on the verge of joining Roma on a season-long loan with the Serie A giants hurriedly trying to wrap up the deal before Monday’s deadline. While the Premier League transfer window ended several weeks ago, before the start of the new season, the Serie A deadline – like most of Europe – is not until Monday evening. And according to Gianluca Di Marzio, Roma are pushing hard to try and bring in Mkhitaryan over the next 24 hours and a deal is said to be ‘very close’.
Mkhitaryan played in Sunday’s north London derby against Spurs (Picture: Getty)
The move would be a loan until the end of the season with the option for Roma to buy him at any time and sporting director Gianluca Petrachi is ‘pushing hard’ to close the deal. Mkhitaryan looks set to only have a squad role this season at Arsenal following the £72m summer arrival of Nicolas Pepe, as well as the loan acquisition of Dani Ceballos.
He has only started once in the Premier League on the opening day of the season, though was part of the matchday squad for the north London derby and came off the bench for a 23-minute cameo. Ironically, Alexis Sanchez – who Arsenal traded to Manchester United to land Mkhitaryan 18 months ago – also moved to Italy on loan, joining Inter Milan last week.
Alexis Sanchez recently completed a loan move of his own to Serie A (Picture: Getty)
Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn recently suggested Arsenal should let Mkhitaryan go, telling sportingbet: ‘When everyone is back fit for Arsenal, Mkhitaryan is going to struggle to get any game time at all during the season. ‘Mkhitaryan looks a frustrated figure, nothing seems to be working out for him on the pitch – his passes are misplaced, his shooting is off and he can’t beat his man. His performance against Newcastle on the opening game of the season wasn’t good enough, especially when you’re playing at the highest level. No doubt, Mkhitaryan is a talented player but he’s going to struggle to hold down a regular position when everybody’s fit.’
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