Turkish national football squad manager Mircea Lucescu has reflected on Manchester United FC (England) midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, whom he coached at FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine).
“An important player [at Shakhtar] was [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan who came from Armenia, a country that has never produced high-quality players,” the UEFA official website quoted the Romanian specialist as saying. “He made a huge leap, mostly thanks to himself and his family.
“He is a very intelligent kid; he speaks five of six languages.
“He adapted very well to any environment he had to play in, and professionally, he grew a lot from one season to the next.
“Now he is, in my opinion, one of the best players I ever trained.”
The captain of the Armenian national team played at Shakhtar Donetsk under Lucescu, from 2010 to 2013. And by scoring his 24th goal, Mkhitaryan set a Ukrainian Premier League record for most goals in a season.
Follow NEWS.am SPORT on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram