Manchester United’s protracted pursuit of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 27, is set to continue with Jose Mourinho increasing their bid to £26m. Borussia Dortmund have already rejected two offers from Old Trafford and are determined to hold the Armenian international to the final year of his contract.
Having already lost Matts Hummels, 27, to Bayern Munich and Ilkay Gundogan, 25, to Manchester City, the Germans are on the verge of implosion this summer.
Mkhitaryan has made it clear that he will not be signing a new deal but manager Thomas Tuchel is unwilling to sell, fearing the move would be too disruptive for the squad. Having steadied the ship since Jurgen Klopp’s departure, Tuchel guided Dortmund to a second place finish in last season’s Bundesliga.
Hopes of improving on that were dented with Hummels departure and Dortmund have decided that their other star assets are not going anywhere this summer.
Manchester City have already seen their bid for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 27, stall with Dortmund’s insistence on a £65m fee proving to be a sticking point. Marco Reus, 27, is attracting Arsenal’s interest but Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, has blocked any further deals for the moment.
It’s a familiar path being trodden at the Westfalenstadion. Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski both left on free transfers as Dortmund insisted they see out the final year of the contracts. The same policy is being applied to Mkhitaryan at the moment, much to the player and his agent’s frustration.
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