Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally joined Italian club, AS Roma. With that move, Arsenal shifted off their wage bill this summer to more than £46million-a-year. The attacking midfielder Mkhitaryan was the biggest contributing factor to that huge sum as one of Arsenal’s highest earners. He was on £180,000-a-week, which is huge compared to his contribution to the team.
The Armenian, 30, who did not feature in Arsenal’s Europa League game for security reasons has failed to impress since joining Arsenal in the swap deal that saw Alexis Sanchez join Manchester United in 2018. Both are now in Italy after equally disappointing spells following their transfers, even though Mkhitaryan made more impact at Arsenal than Sanchez made for Man United. Before Mkhitaryan’s move to Roma on Monday Sanchez joined Inter last week.
With Mkhitaryan deemed not to be providing value for money, the Gunners had made finding a buyer for him a summer priority. Roma finally stepped forward ahead of deadline day in Italy, agreeing to take Mkhitaryan on loan and take on responsibility for his wages too. He passed a medical after arriving in Rome on Monday before completing the switch that will see him reunited with former United team-mate Chris Smalling in the Italian capital.
