- Date of Birth: 21.01.1989
- Place of Birth: Yerevan, Armenia
- Height: 1.77m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is in Rome and set to sign a deal with AS Roma.
AS Roma have reached an agreement with Arsenal to sign Mkhitaryan on a season-long loan deal. The Serie A side will pay a loan fee and the 30-year-old’s wages; however, there is no option or obligation to buy the Armenia international.
The midfielder has passed a long journey from the small country in the mountainous Caucasus region between Asia and Europe to London and now, he is in Rome.
Mkhitaryan started his career at the local club Pyunik at age 17 and scored 30 goals in 70 appearances.
The bright future for the 30-year-old started in Metalurh Donetsk, where the star scored 12 goals in 37 appearances. In 2010, he joined Ukrainian Premier League champions and City rivals Shakhtar Donetsk, for a fee of €6.1 million. At Shakhtar, the player scored 38 goals in 72 appearances.
The next destination, for the Armenian star, was Borussia Dortmund. Where he spent 3 seasons, made 90 appearances and scored 23 goals.
On July 2016, Mkhitaryan broke the news in Armenia, when he joined Manchester United. With the Red Devils Mkhitaryan scored five goals in 39 appearances.
Mkhitaryan’s favourite match he has ever played was for United: “I think my favourite match was with Manchester United when we played the Europa League final. Why? Because we won the Europa League and it was a very important trophy for me and the club. As well, I was the first Armenian player to win an international trophy at that level. So that’s why I would say it was the favourite match. It meant a lot to me to be the first Armenian to win an international trophy at this level.”
Manchester United and Arsenal stunned the football world by swapping Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Alexis Sanchez, in January 2018. For Arsenal, Mkhitaryan made 59 apperances in all competitions; he scored nine goals and created 13 assists.
International Career
The 30-year-old is Armenia’s all-time top goalscorer, scoring 27 goals in 84 international matches. His next game for Armenia National team will be against Italy, in the EURO 2020 qualifiers in Yerevan, on Thursday, September 5.
Trophies
- Armenian Premier League: 4
- Armenian Cup: 1
- Armenian Super Cup: 2
- Ukrainian Premier League: 3
- Ukrainian Cup: 3
- Ukrainian Super Cup: 1
- DFL –Supercup: 1
- FA Community Shield: 1
- UEFA Europa League: 1
- Individual: 24
Family
The Armenia national team captain’s father Hamlet Mkhitaryan was a prominent striker for FC Ararat Yerevan during the 1980s, who died of a brain tumour when Henrikh was seven years old.
Once, he was asked if he could play with any player of his choice, retired or currently playing, who would he choose and why Mkhitaryan answered: "
There are a lot of great players. I think I would like to play alongside my father. It would be a great connection with me and him and it would be fun to play with him. I always watched him play on video cassettes and I wasn't lucky enough to see him play in real life. But I've heard that he was a great player so I would love to play with him."
Henrikh’s mother Marina Taschyan works at Armenia football Federation, while his elder sister, Monica, works at UEFA’s headquarters.
The 30-year-old got married to Betty Vardanian – the daughter of an Armenian businessman Michael Vardanian, on an island San Lazzaro Degli Armeni in the Venetian Lagoon.
Personal Information
Mkhitaryan has a postage stamp dedicated to him. His postages were printed in Canada with a print-run of 40 000 pcs.
In 2017, Mkhitaryan received First-Class Medal of Services to the Motherland.
The playmaker can speak Armenian, French, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, English, and German.
“Well it's good to know many languages but sometimes it even bothers you because when you want to find the right word in one language you cannot find it in your mind and in your brain because you are mixing everything together. It's hard to know many languages at once,” said Mkhitaryan.
As Mkhitaryan will live in Italy, he should learn to speak Italian and of course, eat pizzas, therefore, you should know, the player doesn’t like having pineapples on his pizza.
“No pineapples! I hate to mix the sweet with the taste of things like pizza. If I have pizza then I pick ham, cheese, tomato, mushroom and olives,” one said the player.
