Arsenal man claims he once travelled for Tottenham talks, wasn’t sure about Anfield move

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Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur missed out on Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 2013.

Arsenal don’t appear to have many plans for Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving forward, and a permanent move to Italy could be on the cards this summer.

The Armenian international is currently on loan at Roma, where he has bagged six goals and three assists in 13 Serie A appearances, which is a more than respectable record.

Mkhitaryan, 31, may see his Premier League career end this summer after spells with Arsenal and Manchester United, but it could have been so different for him.

Mkhitaryan has spoken to Russian Youtuber Evgeny Savin about his career, including his decision to leave Shakhtar Donetsk for Borussia Dortmund in 2013.

Much was made of Liverpool’s interest in signing Mkhitaryan that summer, as he had dazzled with Shakhtar having hit 44 goals in 106 games for the Ukrainian side.

Mkhitaryan ended up picking Borussia Dortmund instead and has now claimed that he actually flew to London for talks with Tottenham Hotspur.

As transcribed and translated by Siamo La Roma, Mkhitaryan claimed that he and Mino Raiola ‘weren’t sure’ about joining Liverpool, and felt that both Spurs and Liverpool had wingers and playmakers at the club already, so picked Dortmund instead.

“I left with Raiola for London, initially to speak with Tottenham,” said Mkhitaryan. “We were waiting for offers from Liverpool but we weren’t sure. Then we received the call from Dortmund and immediately flew to Germany.

“They had sold Götze and needed a new ‘number 10’. In Liverpool and Tottenham the spots were already taken, so moving to Borussia was the best thing to do. Klopp immediately told me his ideas, where he saw me on the pitch,” he added.

2013 was the infamous summer of Spurs selling Gareth Bale before splashing the cash on a number of players who simply didn’t live up to their price tags.

It’s surprising that Mkhitaryan felt that there was no room at Tottenham given that they hadn’t even signed Nacer Chadli, Christian Eriksen or Erik Lamela yet – but he’s just one that got away from Spurs that summer.