According to quotes from a Grant Wahl football podcast (available on Spotify here), Henrikh Mkhitaryan has confirmed that he wants to leave Arsenal and join Roma on a long term deal this summer.
Mkhitaryan is quoted as saying:
“Of course I would like to be at Roma next season, and not only next season, for another few years, but I still have a contract with Arsenal and it’s not up to me. It’s up to Arsenal and Roma if they will agree the terms of the transfer fee. So my thinking is to train hard, to play hard and to look forward to what’s going to happen…”
He joined Arsenal in the worst swap deal in history trading places with Alexis Sanchez who went to Manchester United and is now currently on loan with the Italian club. Despite a few injury niggles, he’s largely had a good season, pre-Corona football pause. The Armenian scored on his Serie A debut for Roma and now has scored six goals in just thirteen appearances for the Italian club.
Roma boss Paulo Fonseca is keen to keep the player and is planning to talk to Arsenal about keeping Mkhitaryan, who he has called ‘a great player and a great man’.
Rumours are that Roma are interested in keeping Mkhitaryan for another season, but it remains to be seen in the post-COVID-19 footballing finance world, whether they would stump up the cash to sign him on a permanent deal.