‘I played under Klopp, Wenger and Mourinho – I had unpleasant rows with one of them’

Inter Milan star Henrikh Mkhitaryan has gotten to know some of football’s best managers during his career and talked about his experience playing under Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has quite the catalogue of coaches from a storied career. The veteran Inter Milan star has played under some of the greats of the game since departing Armenia to feature for Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Arsenal and Roma.

Mkhitaryan has played under footballing giants such as Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Simeone Inzaghi, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho. Unsurprisingly, the midfielder, 36, has enjoyed varying relationships with each as he matured through his career.

As you might expect, the most conflict came under Mourinho’s coaching at Manchester United. Mkhitaryan explained he grew under the coach but there were a number of unpleasant confrontations.

“Mourinho called me, he told me he wanted me in Manchester, because I had a crazy season according to him. It’s an opportunity you might get, maybe, once in your career,” Mkhitaryan told TuttoMercatoWeb.

“My relationship with him was not the easiest, but it made me grow as a person, despite the difficulties. He wanted to give me some trouble and see if I could get out of it. I’ve never given up on anything in life.

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“I’m not saying that we had a bad relationship as human beings, but as a coach and player, we always had unpleasant confrontations.

“He wanted to see if you were mentally strong, if you could play in the games that matter the most, in the league and Champions League. This is his way of coaching and understanding people, to see if he can trust you.”

Mkhitaryan also revealed Mourinho didn’t congratulate him when United won the Europa League. “He didn’t give me his hand,” the star said.

“Maybe he forgot, or maybe he wanted to see how I’d react. I didn’t pay attention to it at the time, but it still left a mark on me. I’d ask myself ‘why’. But, I learned that you don’t need a hug for somebody to tell you you’ve done well.”

Mikhitaryan enjoyed a closer relationship with Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. “He was always available whenever you wanted to talk to him, regardless of whether you wanted to talk about football or problems in life,” Mikhitaryan said.

“I will always be grateful to him, because I did have some difficulties at Dortmund.”

And Mkhitaryan managed to achieve a strong relationship with Klopp’s replacement too. Thomas Tuchel was appointed and persauded the Armenia internation not to depart after a tough season.

“Klopp left, Tuchel replaced him and I wanted to leave. I didn’t feel great physically or mentally,” Mkhitaryan explained.

“I had an agreement with Dortmund to leave. Tuchel, however, came in and said he wanted to talk to me and to trust him. He said ‘trust me, you’ll get 15 goals and 15 assists in this position’. I laughed because I’d lost confidence. Even my agent, Raiola, was telling me to leave.

“In the end, I had a great season and the credit must go to him. He brought my confidence and the joy of playing football back.”

One coach had an impact on Mkhitaryan even before working with however. “It was for Wenger,” said the 36-year-old of his Arsenal passion.

“I spent six wonderful months with him before they let him go. We played the attacking football that he likes.

“I started watching Arsenal when I was nine or 10 years old, because they’d show Premier League matches in Armenia. Playing at Arsenal had always been a dream of mine.”

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