
Former Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has hilariously told the tale of how falling out with Jose Mourinho eventually led to him joining Arsenal.
Mourinho brought the Armenian to Old Trafford in 2016 but it was an underwhelming stint at the club for him after arriving from Borussia Dortmund.
He featured regularly, playing 41 games in his first season and scoring 11 goals, but he was gone by half way through the next campaign.
Mkhitaryan felt that the Portuguese had been on his back since he joined thee Red Devils and this led to an explosive argument.
Remarkably, the manager then made it clear to the player that he wanted him to go. Over and over again.
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Writing in his new book My Life Always at the Centre, Mkhitaryan revealed: ‘I told him, you’ve been criticising me for a year-and-a-half now, ever since I arrived at Manchester United.
‘Mourinho told me I was “s***” and I just lost my temper. “You are the s***. An enormous one.”
‘Mou replied: “Get out of here, I never want to see you again.”
‘During the training sessions, the coach said nothing to me, he remained at a religious level of silence, but every evening he’d send me a message via WhatsApp. “Miki, leave, please.”
‘The situation had become grotesque. I’d reply every time with the same copy and paste response. I will leave if I find the right team, otherwise I’ll wait for the summer.
‘Towards the middle of January, the text changed slightly. “Miki, please leave, that way I can get Alexis Sanchez.”
‘Mino Raiola was working on this exchange with Arsenal. So my response mutated too. “I am not leaving just to do you a favour, and please stop writing to me. If you want, talk to Mino.”’
He added: ‘And everyone lived happily ever after.’
The saga came to an end In January 2018 when a deal was struck to send Mkhitaryan to Arsenal and Sanchez go the opposite way. Ultimately, neither move proved successful.
Despite their significant falling out in Manchester, Mkhitaryan and Mourinho were later reunited at Roma, to some success.
The Armenian played 44 games in all competitions in the 2021/22 season as Roma won the Europa Conference League under Mourinho.
The midfielder even thanked the manager for his help during his stint in the Italian capital.
In an Instagram post when he left Roma for Inter Milan in 2022, he wrote: ‘Dear Giallorossi, Roma is a truly unique club.
‘From the day I made it all the way to the Conference League Final and beyond, your support has been outstanding and I will always be very proud of it.
‘When I wore this shirt for the first time, I had a goal: to make this club win and to make its fantastic fans happy: goal achieved in Tirana! This triumph was the perfect conclusion to my three years in the Giallorossi. Now it’s time to say goodbye.
‘I want to thank all the people who work in the club for the special relationship built together over the years. A huge thank you to our technical staff and in particular to Mr. Mourinho for his trust and attention towards me and for the extraordinary motivations he gave me as a player.
‘I gave my all for Roma on and off the pitch. It was a great honour to play here and I will never forget the amazing moments we had together. This club and the Eternal City will remain forever in my heart.’