Henrik Mkhitaryan would be great at Arsenal, says Martin Keown

The swirling rumors around player comings and goings continue today, with all sorts of places saying that Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United is done, and that in return, Henrik Mkhitaryan to Arsenal is very close to being done. All that’s left is negotiations over Mkhitaryan’s salary, apparently, but both clubs seem close to getting what they didn’t know they wanted until last week.

And on the verge of Mkhitaryan joining Arsenal, ex-Arsenal player and current pundit Martin Keown thinks a move to London would do the Armenian a world of good. He believes that he is “clearly not thriving” under Jose Mourinho’s “leadership”, and that “Mkhitaryan needs to be nurtured and cared for”, not merely thrown to the wolves and left to his own devices.

If nothing else, Arsenal under Wenger is absolutely a place where players will feel fully supported and cared for; it could be argued that is part of the problem, that players might not be pushed as hard as at other places, but if an environment like that brings out the best in the Mkhitaryans of the world, that can’t really be all that bad.

After all, this is a guy who proved himself in the Bundesliga; if he can bring some of that magic back by returning to the Emirates, the Alexis-going-away saga may well have been worth it after all.