Borussia Dortmund have been trying to negotiate a contract renewal with Armenian star Henrikh Mkhitaryan for months, with his current deal set to expire next summer.
It was always likely the player could leave, with Raiola as his agent, and that has been now confirmed by Dortmund sporting director Hans-Joachim Watzke.
“We negotiated with Mkhitaryan for four months. We now know he won’t be renewing,” Watzke told German media.
Mkhitaryan will have many suitors this summer, and with Raiola as his agent, it’s was always likely he is going to leave.
Arsenal and Chelsea have been repeatedly linked to the player in the last few months, but it now appears Manchester United could be in the race as well.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Raiola confirmed signing for Manchester United is a possibility, and the Armenian star is also keen.
Dortmund, however, are not keen on selling Mkhitaryan this summer, after already losing Ilkay Gundogan and Mat Hummels.
He added: “The Dortmund bosses fear their own fans, and have told Mkhitaryan he should leave on a free next summer. That is very bad management.
“He does not understand that Dortmund can sell their captain Mats Hummels to arch rivals Bayern, but Mkhitaryan must remain?”
Earlier, there have been reports in Bild Arsenal have offered Mkhitaryan ‘a bumper contract’, and that Chelsea don’t mind paying ‘€50m transfer fee’.
It’d be interesting to see if Manchester United are really interested, or Raiola is trying to generate interest.
Dortmund may say a free transfer is the way things will go, but when that happened with Robert Lewandowski there were statements about it never happening again.
Whilst an exit right now looks likely, don’t be astonished if Mkhitaryan was to extend his deal by a single year, in much the same way Ilkay Gundogan did last summer when his exit looked certain.
