Arsene Wenger reveals how Henrikh Mkhitaryan will play alongside Mesut Ozil for Arsenal
He has no concerns about Mkhitayran's confidence after the move
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger has revealed how he plans to use both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil together following the former’s arrival from Manchester United on Monday.
The Armenian joined on a three-and-a-half-year deal after being used in a direct swap deal for Alexis Sanchez, who went the other way to Old Trafford.
There has been a lot of excitement of how two of the world’s best playmakers will work together for the Gunners when Mkhitayran and Ozil line-up together and Wenger has insisted it will be down to the quality of the pair for how well it comes together.
“I believe we lose a world class player and gain a world class player,” Wenger said. “They [Mesut Ozil and Mkhitaryan] can play together. How efficient will that work? It will be down to the qualities of both players.
“Mkhitaryan has the qualities to integrate into our game. He has a good team attitude. He’s very versatile. He can play in all kinds of positions. He is very versatile and it should help us going forward.
“Henrikh can bring quality of creativity, technical stability and experience.”
Mkhitayran was understood to need to be persuaded to be part of the Sanchez deal and as initially more open to a return to Borussia Dortmund after a tough time in the Premier League with United.
His best performances came when helping United win the Europa League last season, a competition he will now be playing in again this term, but Wenger has insisted that despite being left out for United for the past few weeks, he has no doubts about his new signing’s mindframe.
“I have no doubt about his attitude,” Wenger added. “He suffered a bit with the competition he had there [United]. I will know how much [it affected his confidence] over the next few weeks. That his challenge and my challenge to get that out here.
When asked about whether Mkhitaryan will go straight into the Arsenal first team: “It depends on the team’s performance. His performance in training as well.”
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