‘World-class’ player says he only joined Arsenal because Jose Mourinho told him to ‘get out’

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Jose Mourinho was never a fan of selling players to Arsenal.

The Portuguese tactician famously blocked Demba Ba’s move to the Emirates because he felt that would strengthen the Gunners.

However, a few years after that, when he was at the helm of Manchester United, Mourinho became the reason why Arsenal signed one player – Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan says Jose Mourinho forced him to join Arsenal

Arsenal signed Mkhitaryan from Manchester United in January 2018.

Alexis Sanchez was desperate to leave the Emirates Stadium, and a swap deal was agreed between the two historic English clubs.

Mkhitaryan arrived with a lot of hype and was viewed as a great fit in Arsene Wenger’s attacking system at Arsenal. But the move was a disaster.

Now, the Armenia international has revealed that Mourinho was actually the reason why he left Manchester United and joined the Gunners.

He wrote in his autobiography, My Life Always at the Centre, as per the Metro: “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.”’

Mkhitaryan, who was described as ‘world-class’ by Jurgen Klopp [Independent], concluded by saying: “And everyone lived happily ever after.”

Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexis Sanchez were involved in the worst swap deal ever

Swap deals don’t often happen in the Premier League, which is why they are very exciting when they transpire.

Arsenal and Manchester United fans both felt they got the better deal when Sanchez and Mkhitaryan were swapped, but it was a disaster for both Wenger and Mourinho.

As the table shows, neither player managed to get into double figures for goals despite playing a combined 104 games.

That is a shocking record, which is what makes this the worst swap deal in the history of the Premier League.