Henrikh Mkhitaryan bid a tearful farewell to his Manchester United team-mates and club staff at Carrington on Friday as his swap deal with Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez moved a step closer. Mkhitaryan’s switch to the Emirates has been holding up negotiations after his agent Mino Raiola warned that he could torpedo United’s hopes of signing Sanchez. Jose Mourinho claimed there was ‘nothing new’ to report at a 12.45pm press conference on Friday other than to say that Mkhitaryan had once again been left out of United’s match-day squad to face Burnley.
However, just over an hour later the Armenia international said goodbye to his teammates and other members of staff at 2pm following what is expected to be his last training session with the club.
‘It was very tearful,’ said one United source. ‘Henrikh has been a very popular figure here at United.
‘We know he isn’t too happy at the way this deal has been forced upon him. He realises he has more chance of playing at Arsenal, but he would have preferred to leave on his own terms.’
Mkhitaryan, who joined United from Borussia Dortmund for £26million just 18 months ago, is now expected to travel to London to meet with Raiola and conclude the deal.
It’s understood that United will pay £35m for Sanchez, including a £20m transfer fee to Arsenal and £15m to the player’s agent Fernando Felicevich.
Sanchez will earn £350,000-a-week plus an extra £100,000-a-week to make up his signing-on fee over the course of a four-and-a-half-year contract.
It remains to be seen how much Arsenal must pay for Mkhitaryan, but Raiola has been negotiating the best possible personal terms for his client who earned £140,000-a-week at United and is set to become the highest earner at his new club.
Sanchez trained with the rest of the Arsenal first-team on Friday with Arsene Wenger prepared to play his star man against Crystal Palace at the Emirates on Saturday.
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