Club before country for Armenian?
Manchester United have asked Armenia not to call up Henrikh Mkhitaryan for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
The attacker has been struggling to recover from a thigh injury ever since United’s 2-1 home defeat to City on September 1oth, and therefore the Red Devils are hoping that he will be excused from international duty to work on his fitness.
The club’s head of medicine, Steve McNally, said in a statement to the Armenian Football Federation (FFA): “Henrikh is still undergoing late stage rehabilitation from the left thigh muscle injury that he sustained earlier this month whilst playing for Manchester United.
“In view of that I would be grateful if he could be allowed to withdraw from the national team for the forthcoming training camp and FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches in order to remain in Manchester to complete his rehabilitation.”
A statement on the FFA statement said Mkhitaryan “will probably miss” the games in light of United’s request.
Mkhitaryan has started just one game since joining United from Borussia Dortmund in the summer and is yet to score for his new club. Their next game is against Liverpool on October 17th, and they will be wanting as near to as a full squad as possible for the trip.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
