This has to be Mkhitaryan’s year – ESPN FC

Whatever happens to Dortmund this season, Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally has to show his true greatness. There are good reasons why the Armenian midfielder has yet to deliver.

ESPN FC wrote the aforesaid reflecting on Armenia national football squad and Borussia Dortmund (BVB; Germany) midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

“It’s been a year since Mkhitaryan injured himself in a preseason friendly, a moment that still rings with destiny thinking back to his first year with the club. He had just arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk for a record fee of 27.5 million euros. Borussia Dortmund had never paid as much for a single player.

“Logically, expectations for Mkhitaryan were huge, and he made a great first impression, seeming to be the player everyone thought he was going to be. Mkhitaryan was so eager to score from a narrow position that he tore a ligament.

“From that moment he was playing catchup with his form, waiting for a breakthrough that never quite came. Mkhitaryan showed from time to time that there is pure genius in him, providing glimpses of his talent but never displaying quite enough to justify the high fee Borussia Dortmund paid for him.

“The undoubtedly intelligent Armenian was his own worst enemy. The self-critical midfielder lost his ease on the pitch. Every BVB fan could feel how Mkhitaryan was often just trying too much to pull himself out of his inconsistency.

“Expectations were sometimes a bit too high, while injuries changed the structure of the team way too often. One must not forget that Mkhitaryan developed consistently in his defensive duties.

“The final quarter of the season was a step in the right direction for Mkhitaryan. Klopp put Marco Reus in center instead of Mkhitaryan, and it worked wonders.

“This has to be Mkhitaryan's year. Just like Robert Lewandowski, who had his breakthrough in his second season, the same is expected of ‘Heno.’ He had a good first year given the circumstances, but now it’s time to step up and be a regular difference-maker in this BVB team.

“Somehow it feels like that is exactly what is going to happen. Again, it’s still early in the preseason, but Mkhitaryan is leaving his mark in friendlies,” the website specifically wrote.

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