German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund have confirmed that Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (27) is leaving the club this summer as per his wish, he is joining English Premier League side Manchester United next season.
The 27 year old Yerevan-born Henrikh Mkhitaryan started his career with local side FC Pyunik and also made his professional debut with the club. He moved across to the Ukraine to play for Metalurh Donetsk in 2009 and after a successful season he joined city rival and Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, where he played three successful seasons before moving to Dortmund in 2013 for 27,5 million Euros in a summer where a number of top clubs wanted to sign Mkhitaryan.
Three seasons on, Henrikh Mkhitaryan had an overall good time in Dortmund with especially the final season being by far the best and it will be seen if he succeeds at Manchester United or fails like BVB team mate Shinji Kagawa at the Red Devils.
“Based on a completely new situation, this transfer was a difficult trade-off for us. Manchester made us a very attractive offer. Had we refused it, the player would have left us on a free transfer in 2017 and we would only have delayed the matter of a replacement for a year,” explained Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.
The transfer fee is expected to be around 42,5 million Euros, a new record for Dortmund, who lose their third key player this summer after defender and captain Mats Hummel to Bayern Munich and Ilkay Gündogan to Manchester City.