Mourinho has nothing but praise for
Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the way he dealt
with a difficult situation.
professionalism following an upturn in the
Armenian's form after a difficult start to life at
Manchester United.
Mkhitaryan joined United from Borussia Dortmund
for a transfer fee in the region of €40 million, but
initially struggled to live up to the high
expectations at Old Trafford.
He has broken into the starting XI in recent weeks,
though, and Mourinho has praised the 27-year-
old's attitude.
"We bought him because I asked the club to do it,
because I liked the player and analysed him," said
the Portuguese.
"So it would be extra frustrating for me if
everything went wrong. But he needed a period of
adaptation, at every level, and in that period he was
a great professional.
"Maybe another guy in his position would look for
excuses and blame the manager, blame the pitch,
blame the weather, blame something else, like
many players do these days. But he was quiet,
closed his mouth, worked really hard, waited for his
opportunity and was playing really well now."
Mkhitaryan faces a brief spell on the sidelines after
picking up a knock in the 1-0 win over Tottenham
at the weekend and Mourinho hopes his absence
will not have a negative effect on his recent
progress."Hopefully a few matches out of action will not
mean the end of this development," he added.
"Hopefully he can play Christmas. We believe it is
possible. When I saw him on the stretcher I thought
was more serious. When I saw the tackle on TV I
was a bit scared.
"It is a pity because he is going to miss matches in
his best period."
Mourinho is not worried Mkhitaryan's absence will
hurt United, though, as he feels they have plenty of
alternatives heading into Wednesday's match
against Crystal Palace.
"The position is not a problem," he continued.
"Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard,
Ashley Young, Memphis Depay – it is a position
where we have lots of players."
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