since the hot take was that he might replace alexis if we sold him, here is their side by side comparison. everyone is saying HM just had a career year, while we all agree sanchez had a down season, relatively speaking

spoiler alert

if that was mickey's best season and what hes capable of, we should look elsewhere

He's a good-ish player. I wouldn't be completely against him coming but he's categorically not the sort of player we need to bring into the club right now. He's a Wenger player in a lot of ways; nice guy, team player (although he shoots way too much!), decent statistically, quite versatile - we need winners, personalities and genuine game-changing quality. Mkhitaryan is not any of those things. He's just more of the same really

In an ideal world we'd have him take Rosicky's place in the squad. We need to up our quality all over

More of the same of what exactly? He was far and away the most productive AM on a team with Kagawa and Reus. He may not look as elegant as those guys, but he's at least as effective. I think folks underestimate just how shit our forwards are. This guy would be an improvement on anyone not named Sanchez/Ozil. That's a good thing. If we also get a striker more effective than Giroud, we would have really progressed.

More of the same dodgy decision making in the final third, inconsistent finishing, poor touches or wrong passes. He's a good player but he's not anything special. Immensely frustrating a lot of the time. Why do you think none of the big clubs are biting Dortmund's hand off?

Although, I don't mind what Dula says about him replacing Rosicky's versatility. what's the fee being bandied about?

Not keen on him either, Firminho level talent and not convinced he'd adapt well. He was atrocious the last couple of seasons.

unless he only has a year left or a laughable release clause i cant see why theyd ask for less than £30m for him

hard pass for me

his shooting accuracy is somehow 7% worse than alexis, which is really scary

Prerty sure I remember hearing he's in his last year.

Ricky1985 wrote:

More of the same dodgy decision making in the final third, inconsistent finishing, poor touches or wrong passes. He's a good player but he's not anything special. Immensely frustrating a lot of the time. Why do you think none of the big clubs are biting Dortmund's hand off?

Although, I don't mind what Dula says about him replacing Rosicky's versatility. what's the fee being bandied about?

Our biggest problem right now is not a deficit of superstars. It's a surfeit of scrubs. We have too many inconsistent and unproductive players in our frontline. The best thing we can do for ourselves is start to move them down the pecking order or eliminate them completely. I'm a big believer that improving performance is mainly about reducing variability, and raising the bottom before you increase the top. Mkhitaryan produces more than Welbeck, Walcott, Campbell, and Ox combined. Why wouldn't you want to dump some of these guys who aren't even fit to don an Arsenal jersey and replace with this guy?

He scored 3 goals and created 4 last season. What's to say he wouldn't revert back to that sort of form next season? He's benefited from playing in a very well functioning attack this season in a weaker league after 3 seasons of adaptation. I just don't see him coming here and tearing it up.

If we can get him cheap I'm for it

We have enough 'superstars'? Not so sure about that, Claud.

He produces but it's in the Bundesliga in a team that is very good and better by far than most they play against. I've watched him play enough times to know he's inefficient and frustrating in the final third and when he's up against the best teams that really becomes apparent. He'd score some and he'd make some in the League, but he's not going to do anything special.

Is he better or worse than the players I listed who get tons of minutes?

I don't consider him much, if at all, better than Walcott and Welbeck, no.

Anyway, as we have both stressed lately, we have a limited budget and have to pick our targets carefully. If this guy is available at a knock down price then maybe it's worthwhile, but, in my view, it's better to put your money into the best you can afford and improve the squad that way.

You're misjudging him badly if you don't think he's better than welbeck and Walcott

The fact that we're stuck with a load of inconsistant, unreliable right wingers is precisely why I'm not that enthused by the prospect of him joining the ranks. I'm not at all convinced that this season represents the norm from him rather than the two seasons preceding it.

Well Welbeck is injured until 2017/18 and Walcott hasn't played like a proper right winger, the one we saw get good numbers and give us a different dimension, for a few seasons now - so I'd take Mkhitaryan at a good price as I said. But those two fit and playing properly are at least as good in my opinion.

His passing accuracy is worse than Alexis?? wow.

The thing is not whether Mikhitaryan is a good player or not, it is that we can and should be doing better.

I will take Payet, Mahrez and Ben Arfa over him.