Henrikh Mkhitaryan is one of Manchester United’s finest midfielders on paper. We have all seen him shine in the United red, but we have also seen him look lost and uninterested.

It’s a great shame that yet again another one of the Bundesliga’s finest stars has arrived at Old Trafford with huge expectation, only to struggle to keep up with their consistency.

Mkhitaryan’s absence from 7 of United’s last 8 games has raised a lot of question about his future, and it seems with the host of midfield and attacking options combined with the prospect of signing Mesut Ozil, the Armenian could be on his way out.

Mourinho admitted that there is always going to be fierce competition for places on the bench as much as a place in his starting XI, and said he currently has no room for the attacking midfielder.

“I can only have six [outfield] players on the bench and I try to have some balance on the bench,” Mourinho said.

“[Against Bournemouth] I had two defenders and [Daley] Blind who can play in different areas. I had Ashley Young to cover all of the wing and the wing-back position.

“I had [Ander] Herrera as a midfield player, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] as a striker and Marcus [Rashford] as a second striker and winger.

“I played [Anthony] Martial, [Juan] Mata and [Jesse] Lingard in the team. To have Micki (Mkhitaryan) means that I don’t have one of them and, in this moment, I believe the other ones they deserve [the chance to play].”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]