While Chris Smalling’s loan to AS Roma from Manchester United is going really well, Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s from Arsenal isn’t.
It’s not entirely his fault, as his performances when he’s been on the pitch have been rather decent, but his body hasn’t been able to keep up, picking up an ‘annoying’ adductor injury, as Il Tempo put it, towards the end of September against Lecce.
Since then, the Armenia international hasn’t been seen in a Roma shirt, and the Italian side will have to wait some more, as the newspaper believe he’s still a good three weeks away from full fitness.
They reckon the Arsenal playmaker is most likely to return on November 24th against Brescia, which will make it nearly two months without stepping foot on a pitch.
This has stopped him from gaining any kind of momentum in a year the player will have been hoping to impress and hopefully get a move away from the Emirates, where Unai Emery wasn’t able to guarantee him first-team football, and while Chris Smalling’s loan is being discussed a potential future permanent transfer, Mkhitaryan is a long way off from that.
Prior to being sidelined, the 30-year-old had scored one goal and assisted another in four appearances, and he’ll be hoping this ends up being his first and only injury of the 2019-20 campaign.
