Dortmund’s Lewandowski pain can help Arsenal land Mkhitaryan
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Arsenal have been linked with Borussia Dortmund star Henrikh Mkhitaryan for much of 2016, but it’s his current club who find themselves in a real dilemma as their star forward looks to take advantage of the German outfit’s revolving door.
The club are believed to beek on avoiding lightning striking twice, having seen Robert Lewandowski infamously leave the club for free in 2014 to join Bayern Munich.
And with Mats Hummels and Mario Gotze also joining their Bundesliga rivals in recent times, BvB have had to get used to seeing their finest talents head elsewhere.
Gotze and Hummels both had contract release clauses which were activated by Bayern, something Mkhitaryan is reportedly keen to include before he signs any new deal with Dortmund.
The Armenian’s current contract ends in 12 months’ time, and Dortmund risk the very real possibility of once again losing their man for nothing next summer.
And so reports this week believe the club are weighing up their options, and are becoming increasingly prepared to sell Mkhitaryan to avoid another Lewandowski situation, with Arsenal leading the race to land a £30m deal.
Having directly contributed a goal per game in the Bundesliga last term, there’s little doubting the winger’s quality, and at 27, the former Shakhtar man should be entering his peak years.
Liverpool are also believed to be in the running for Mkhitaryan’s signature, but Arsenal can offer Champions League football plus the continental London lifestyle.
The Gunners have already snapped up Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach, and have exercised Jamie Vardy’s release clause at Leicester.
It’s been circulated that Arsenal may hold fire on any Mkhitaryan move until they hear of a decision from Vardy, but they then run the risk of losing one of the most sought-after players in Europe, so Arsene Wenger has some major decisions to make in the coming weeks.
One thing is for sure however, and that is Wenger is determined to bring that spark back to the Emirates next season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
