Manchester United schemer Henrikh Mkhitaryan believes he is still learning how to handle the Premier League and vows his best form is still to come.
The Armenia captain is confident he will be completely in tune with the English top flight by the 2017/18 season and is working hard to improve his game.
Although Mkhitaryan has showed his undoubted quality and has big aims for the rest of the campaign, including a determination to help United reach the Europa League final, he is adamant he has yet to show his true colours on a consistent basis.
When asked by United Review, the official matchday programme, if he feels he has fully adapted, he replied: “No, not yet. I still have places where I can improve and room to improve. I know myself very well and I am sure than I can do better, and I will do better, because I am confident.
“I know very well within myself I can do more, I want to say that, for next year, I am going to have more goals and more assists.
“Of course, you can improve in every aspect,” he added. “There is not one side that you can say I am good on it and then I don’t have to work on that facet. You have to work on every side to your game, in every aspect, because you just have to keep working hard to improve.”
If any extra motivation was required to reach the Europa League final in Stockholm next month, the fact Mkhitaryan missed the EFL Cup triumph against Southampton due to injury must be at the back of his mind.
“Yes, of course, I missed the EFL Cup final but the most important thing is the fact that the team won it,” he stressed. “For me, it’s the team success in the first place, more than any individual one, so I will be happy if I can get to another final this year. You don’t ever know what will happen tomorrow but we will keep our heads clear, try to think positively and get the best for us.
“It is one of my goals for this season – to win the Europa League. Of course, I know it is not going to be easy, particularly at this stage of the competition as there are no easy opponents. Obviously, we understand the importance of the tie with Anderlecht in the quarter-finals.
“We know that we are going to have two very tough games and, of course, Anderlecht are not easy opponents. I realise some people think: ‘Ah, we’ve got Anderlecht, so it is going to be easy to beat them’ but it is not like that. I know this because I have watched some of their games during their participation in Europe and I can say they are playing very well and they have very good with players of high quality.”
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Հենրիխ Մխիթարյանը՝ բոլոր ժամանակների 43-րդ ամենաթանկ ֆուտբոլիստը
https://www.aniarc.am/2017/02/13/mkhitaryan-bbc-interview-february-2017/
