Lost, found and lost again: Henrikh Mkhitaryan's sad tale at Manchester United

Hopes were high when Manchester United announced their third signing of the summer of 2016, for the incoming Armenian captain was not only the Bundesliga Player's Player of the Year, it also signified the fresh flavor of attacking football that Jose Mourinho would want to introduce at Old Trafford in his first season in charge.

Mkhitaryan joined the Red Devils at the back of a wonderful season, having scored 11 times and assisting a further 15 goals in the Bundesliga. 18 months since, he is nowhere to be seen inside at Old Trafford. Where is Henrikh Mkhitaryan and what has gone wrong with him?

We take a look at the three phases of the Armenian captain's Manchester United career.

Lost in the Initial Expectations

Mkhitaryan was expected to take the Premier League by storm. Instead, like many other foreign recruits, Heno found it difficult to emulate the form that earned him the status of one of the most sought-after playmakers in the world.

Having made his competitive debut for United as a 92nd-minute substitute in the Community Shield, Mkhitaryan played only 15 odd minutes on the right wing in his Premier League debut, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute against Bournemouth in the Premier League opener.

This was followed by a couple of substitute performances where he made no major impact. A new country, a new environment, a new manager, and a new style - Life, for Mkhitaryan, was proving to be difficult in England.

His full-time debut came a bit too early - an anonymous performance in the Manchester derby saw him getting substituted at the halftime. To make matters worse, poor form was coupled with an injury with Mourinho excluding the Armenian from every matchday squad until early November.

Clearly, Mkhitaryan was lost in the pace and physicality of the Premier League.

Mkhitaryan had a shocker in his first Manchester derby

Found - Manchester United's New Number 10

Having struggled to perform in the early days, Mkhitaryan started showing his true colours when given the liberty to play in the number 10 role behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. His sublime backheel to tee up the Swedish striker against West Ham in the EFL cup was just a glimpse of how Mkhitaryan can carve out the openings in the opponent's defensive lines.

His first goal for the club came in Europa League against Zorya Luhansk when he picked up the ball just past the halfway line and ran past defenders to score a wonderful solo goal, ensuring United qualified for the knockout stages.

His pace and composure in front of goal were there to be seen when he beat the offside trap and scored past Lloris with an exquisite finish to become the match winner against Tottenham at Old Trafford.

Mkhitaryan celebrating his goal against Tottenham

The boxing day match against Sunderland saw Mkhitaryan score that majestic "scorpion-kick" which would, later, go on to become United's goal of the season.

He completely destroyed the reigning champions Leicester at the King Power Stadium, firstly scoring a wonderful solo goal on the break, and then playing Mata through on goal to kill the game. His outside of the foot pass from his own half to set up Marcus Rashford against Blackburn in the FA cup was a show of sheer class.

Mkhitaryan has intelligence, composure, aggression, directness, vision for a killer pass and an eye for a goal. United, in Henrikh Mkhitaryan, had found a complete package of a player.

Mkhitaryan ended the season with 5 assists and 11 goals, last of them being in the final of Europa League when United beat Ajax at the Friends Arena to clinch their first-ever Europa League crown and to book their place in the Champions League in the upcoming season.

Reinforcements were added in the summer of 2017 - Nemanja Matic signed from Chelsea to provide steel in the midfield, Romelu Lukaku - at a hefty price tag of £75m, was signed from Everton to take up the goalscoring responsibilities from an injured and out of contract Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mkhitaryan did not disappoint and started from where he left last season, racking up 2 goals and 6 assists - 5 of which came in the first 3 games of the new season, with United being joint leaders along with Manchester City until matchday 7.

Lost again - Mourinho blames Mkhitaryan for disappearing during matches

Mkhitaryan finds himslef out of favour at Old Trafford

With 3 of the next 4 matches involving highly anticipated ties against Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea, United needed Mkhitaryan to keep his form. However, the Red Devils ended up dropping 8 points in the process, with Jose Mourinho particularly unimpressed with the Armenian.

Addressing a press conference, Mourinho was highly critical of the Armenian. "I was not happy with his last performances. I’m not speaking about one or two, I’m speaking about three, four or five".

“He started the season very well and after that step by step, he was disappearing. His performance levels in terms of goal scoring and assists, high pressing, recovering the ball high up the pitch, bringing the team with him as a No?10, were decreasing step by step. That was enough because the others worked to have a chance."

A poor run of games has seen Mkhitaryan's name getting omitted from 8 of the last 9 match day squads with critics and pundits echoing Mourinho's thoughts. Jamie Carragher in his post-match analysis on Sky Sports claimed "United played with 10 men" against Chelsea.

Who is to be blamed - Mkhitaryan or Mourinho?

Of late, Mkhitaryan has been unable to reproduce the form that saw him once become a fan favourite at Manchester United. Pogba's absence has played its part with Mkhitaryan being particularly poor during the encounters against Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea - games which Pogba missed due to injury.

However, it is not only Pogba's absence but also Jose Mourinho's reluctance to play attacking football against the top teams. Mourinho likes shutting down in big matches which means there hasn't been any scope of Mkhitaryan and Mata starting together - a partnership that not only played better possession football earlier in the season, but also CONCEDED NO GOALS when started alongside each other, indicating attack indeed was a better form of defence for United earlier this season.

Mata and Mkhitaryan had a great start to the season

Also, rather than building from the back, Mourinho has opted for the long ball approach in the big matches - a style which Mkhitaryan is not suited to. He had less than 50 touches against Liverpool and Tottenham, and a mere 28 touches against Chelsea.

All said and done, Jesse Lingard has grabbed the opportunity with both the hands when given a nod ahead of the former Dortmund star, with the Englishman having 8 goals and 7 assists against his name for the season, making it even more difficult for Mkhitaryan to find his place back in the team.

What does the future hold?

"If a player is not happy and brings with the request a number we consider good for us, I would never say no. Every player has a price. That is my approach as a manager", said Mourinho before United's away trip to West Brom suggesting that days might be limited for Mkhitaryan at United.

Having not played any of United's last 9 games, the Armenian might get his chance again with the busy festive schedule now approaching. What is certain is, that with Mourinho, Mkhitaryan won't be getting the 'arms around the shoulder' approach which saw him reach greater heights at Dortmund first with Jurgen Klopp and then under Thomas Tuchel, he will have to do it the hard way.

Fighting to earn his place back in the team will be a big test of his character. Fans, on the other hand, would be hoping to see Henrikh Mkhitaryan put in another string of great performances that they hoped for when the Bundesliga Player's Player of the Year signed 18 months ago.