Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s time at Manchester United was marred by his negative relationship with then-manager Jose Mourinho.
Mkhitaryan arrived at Manchester United in the summer of 2016, just as Mourinho took over the managerial duties for the club.
However, fast forward a year later, and the pair’s relationship had completely fallen apart, with the ‘Special One’ doing everything he could to push him out of the team.
Jose Mourinho asked Henrikh Mkhitaryan to leave every day so he could get Alexis Sanchez
In his 2025 autobiography, La Mia Vita Sempre al Centro (My life always at the centre), Henrikh Mkhitaryan revealed details of his stint with Manchester United under Jose Mourinho.
He noted that their relationship fell apart after an outburst in training. After the incident, Mourinho would text Mkhitaryan every day to push him out so the club could sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.
“I had lost my patience with Mourinho, ‘I said to him, you have been criticising me for two years, you are s—!’ He said, ‘I never want to see you again.’
“He would not say a word in training, but every night he’d send a text, ‘Leave so I can get Alexis,’ he’d say on WhatsApp every night. ‘Miki, please go away.’
“It had gotten really bad. And I always copied and pasted the same response, ‘If I go, I have to find the right team, otherwise I will wait until the summer.’
“Around January, his text changed to ‘Miki, please go away so I can get Alexis.’ Then my response changed, too.
“I started saying, ‘I’m not leaving just to please you, and I beg you, please stop texting me. Talk to Mino (Raiola) if you want.”
Jose Mourinho ultimately got his wish, but it didn’t help Manchester United
In 2018, during the January transfer window, Arsenal and Manchester United agreed to swap Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Sanchez had been similarly frustrated at Arsenal since joining in 2014 from Barcelona, and wanted to leave the team after spending years under Arsene Wenger.
However, Sanchez did not turn out to be the game-changer Jose Mourinho had hoped for, as the solid form fans became used to from him at Arsenal never followed him to Manchester United.
A year later, Mourinho was sacked by Manchester United and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who let Sanchez leave the team in 2019 to join Inter Milan.
As for Mkhitaryan, he would be reunited with Jose Mourinho briefly during the 2021-22 season at Roma, before he would sign for Inter Milan the following year.
The two seemingly repaired the relationship during that time, with Mourinho wanting Mkhitaryan to stay. Unfortunately, the Armenian player would leave as Roma failed to come to an agreement with him.
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