Last summer, Liverpool lost out on several high-profile 'marquee' signings, including coveted attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who rejected Anfield for a £24m move to Borussia Dortmund. For a few tantalising weeks, it seemed that Brendan Rodgers would pull of a major transfer coup, but alas, it wasn't to be. Well, all is not lost, as the Armenian star has hinted that he'd consider a move to LFC in the future.
Speaking to Sport-Express.ru this week, Mkhitaryan stated that he's happy at Dortmund, but added:
"I know how much Liverpool wanted me. Can I see myself at Liverpool in the future? This is life and everything is possible"
The collapse of the deal led to disappointment amongst Reds fans, including ex-LFC players. In his column for 5-Times this week, Jan Molby said:
"I was massively disappointed when we weren't able to get Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He would have been perfect for what we needed, an extra bit of quality and real signal of intent"
Molby's former team-mate, John Aldridge expressed similar sentiments, when he tweeted:
"It's a blow. He [Mkhitaryan] would have been a great signing: height, strength, goals and more"
Speaking to reporters recently, Mkhitaryan revealed the reason why he rejected the Reds. He told Eurosport:
“Liverpool have a great past, but Borussia Dortmund has a great present. I made this decision with my heart. I have followed the Bundesliga in Ukraine and I know the standard is very high.”
Clearly, Dortmund's Champions League status was a major attraction to Mkhitaryan, and that's entirely understandable, and until the Reds are able to compete on the same level, signings of this calibre may continue to be an elusive dream.
Luckily, unless LFC suffer a catastrophic collapse in form, Champions League football is nailed-on for next season, which means the club should be right in the mix for top quality players.
Have Liverpool missed Mkhitaryan this season? Right now, the club is only four points off the top of the Premier League, so you'd have to say no, though if the Armenian had signed, Philippe Coutinho would've had a major challenger for his place in the team, and that might've spurred him on to greater heights, with a possible positive impact on the team.
Additionally, with 18 goals/assists in 31 appearances for Dortmund, Mkhitaryan's stats for the season so far are very good, and a similar contribution for LFC would've come in handy. Scoring goals is not a problem for the Reds this year, though, so it's probably not a major loss.
Will LFC pursue Mkhitaryan in the future, or has the ship sailed on that particular transfer...?
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to Sport-Express.ru this week, Mkhitaryan stated that he's happy at Dortmund, but added:
"I know how much Liverpool wanted me. Can I see myself at Liverpool in the future? This is life and everything is possible"
The collapse of the deal led to disappointment amongst Reds fans, including ex-LFC players. In his column for 5-Times this week, Jan Molby said:
"I was massively disappointed when we weren't able to get Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He would have been perfect for what we needed, an extra bit of quality and real signal of intent"
Molby's former team-mate, John Aldridge expressed similar sentiments, when he tweeted:
"It's a blow. He [Mkhitaryan] would have been a great signing: height, strength, goals and more"
Speaking to reporters recently, Mkhitaryan revealed the reason why he rejected the Reds. He told Eurosport:
“Liverpool have a great past, but Borussia Dortmund has a great present. I made this decision with my heart. I have followed the Bundesliga in Ukraine and I know the standard is very high.”
Clearly, Dortmund's Champions League status was a major attraction to Mkhitaryan, and that's entirely understandable, and until the Reds are able to compete on the same level, signings of this calibre may continue to be an elusive dream.
Luckily, unless LFC suffer a catastrophic collapse in form, Champions League football is nailed-on for next season, which means the club should be right in the mix for top quality players.
Have Liverpool missed Mkhitaryan this season? Right now, the club is only four points off the top of the Premier League, so you'd have to say no, though if the Armenian had signed, Philippe Coutinho would've had a major challenger for his place in the team, and that might've spurred him on to greater heights, with a possible positive impact on the team.
Additionally, with 18 goals/assists in 31 appearances for Dortmund, Mkhitaryan's stats for the season so far are very good, and a similar contribution for LFC would've come in handy. Scoring goals is not a problem for the Reds this year, though, so it's probably not a major loss.
Will LFC pursue Mkhitaryan in the future, or has the ship sailed on that particular transfer...?
Author: Jaimie K
Well why not? If we make champions league, we definitely need more depth. It wouldn;t hurt to boost our midfield stock at all
ReplyDeleteUnlikely, he's 26 now. If he plays for Dortmund for one more year, then at 27, he's no longer looking like good value. The ship has sailed.
ReplyDeleteHe said Liverpool was a team of the past and shunned us, now we're at the business end of the table, and he's not doing so great, he would'nt rule out a move to Anfield. Maybe if he did come, he would 'nt do so well with us either.
ReplyDeleteHe had his chance and he said no, too bad, hiensight is a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteI think he would have flopped in England, Lallana and Konoplyanka are the players for us I feel!
ReplyDeleteHe's been playing ok, but Dortmund as a whole are struggling with form a bit. If he chose us over Dortmund he would have done far, far better due to his particular skill-set, I have no doubt about that. A real shame... I love him as a player.
ReplyDeleteWhy would that be? He has one of the fastest sprint speeds I've seen from a CAM, very good work-rate, core strength and tackling technique. He is extremely underrated as a player.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that he says he knows how much Liverpool wanted him. That's a fair indication that the club did the right things in the transfer game. We certainly can't say that the player felt disappointed with our efforts, he would have said so. There was a lot of criticism on here, not necessarily from JK, directed at the club and easy target Ayre, and one of the arguments was that the club just didn't try hard enough. Mkhitaryan's comments seem to disprove that.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to be saying well if we are all sucked into a vortex and transported to another dimension (except foir Ian Ayre) it is just remotely possible that I might consider moving to Liverpool.
ReplyDeletePut it this way I am not rushing out to buy a shirt with his name on it. Quite apart from my spelling not being up to it i still have not worn my Salah and Konoplyanka ones.........yet!
Lallana, now he would be a good signing for us.
ReplyDeleteI think if we get CL next season we will need an influx for world class players to make sure we stay there. It's important we push on from there and avoid what happen in 08-09 where we decreased the strength of the squad by failing to improve it.
ReplyDeletePS so glad no Liverpool players got injured yesterday.
What do you lads think are our chances of actually winning the PL this season?
ReplyDeleteAnd if we do, where do we go from there? As in squadwise?
Hypothetically speaking anyway.
Dortmund are also second in their league so he's doing OK
ReplyDeleteAfter end of season and IF we back on CL the option is more. Why so stubborn to luring a player doesn't trust us at beginning
ReplyDeleteMolby thinks he has height? Does he even know who we're talking about?
ReplyDeleteHe just turned 25 in January...
ReplyDeletethe "three day ban" on garfield is now at 6 days. this ban needs to be lifted.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think we have a great shot at winning, looking at our position now we are in with a chance, however we have some hard games coming, man united away is going to be a real challenge, current form in that game doesn't matter, every player in their starting 11 will want to see us lose and slip up in the title race.
ReplyDeleteFor next season we really need to push on and improve thour bench, Chelsea and City pretty much have two teams which allow them to compete in every competition, players like Aspas, Alberto from what we've seen ( very little I know ) just don't cut it for the money that's spent.
Your comment goes hand in hand about the article of mine posted by Jaimie a while back.
ReplyDeleteIf we had CL football on offer then it is very likely that Mkhitaryan would have been playing for LFC.