The start of the season felt like an awakening for Manchester United. Their club record signing was at last delivering the all-action displays expected of him; a swashbuckling air of attacking adventure had returned to a side that looked laboured and dull under Louis van Gaal, as well as in the transitional season that followed; and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was finally flourishing.
The Armenian started the season in genuinely record-breaking form, assisting five goals in his first three Premier League appearances of the season – something that had not been achieved since Ruel Fox for Newcastle in the 1994/95 season. As United sparkled, it was Mkhitaryan pulling the strings, constantly searching for the ball and penetrating defences when he received it.
But it is now two months – and six matches – since he last assisted a league goal, while he has scored just once, in United’s rout of Everton. Against Huddersfield he was omitted from the starting XI entirely, and the same doubts that caused Jose Mourinho to integrate him so slowly after he first arrived in England are surfacing again.
All the while, the whispers linking Mesut Ozil with a move to Old Trafford grow louder. The German enjoyed such a fruitful relationship with Mourinho at Real Madrid, even if at times their dynamic risked boiling over. He was transformed into a £40m superstar, but now he is set to leave Arsenal for nothing when his contract expires in the summer.
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