Arsenal cut significant chunk off wage bill as Henrikh Mkhitaryan closes in on Roma loan move

Rome-ing midfielder: Midfielder is due to have a medical ahead of loan deal
Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal are hopeful of tying up a loan deal with Roma for midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The 30-year-old moved to Emirates Stadium from Manchester United in January 2018 as part of a deal that saw Alexis Sanchez go the other way.

However, Mkhitaryan has fallen down the pecking order at Arsenal and the club were today negotiating his departure.

Talks were at advanced stage this morning with Roma over a loan deal that would see the Italian club pay a significant amount of the Armenian’s £180,000-a-week wages.

The Serie A transfer window was due to shut today at 7pm but there was a confidence Mkhitaryan’s move to Roma would get done in time, with the player due in Italy this afternoon to undergo a medical.

Mkhitaryan’s departure is likely to provide more first-team opportunities for Reiss Nelson. The 19-year-old has returned to Arsenal this summer following a stint on loan at Hoffenheim last season and will now be hopeful of more action.

Midfielder Mesut Ozil is another player who could profit from the loaning of Mkhitaryan.

While there was optimism this morning over a deal for Mkhitaryan, it was looking unlikely that defender Shkodran Mustafi would find a new club before the transfer window shut in Europe.

In Pictures | Arsenal vs Tottenham, north London derby | 01/09/2019

1/89

The German is currently out of favour at the Gunners and he is yet to feature this season.

Mustafi has been linked with several sides, including Juventus and Monaco, but there were no concrete offers for him as of this morning.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in