Henrikh Mkhitaryan says can’t wait to play with Borussia band at Arsenal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan can’t wait to get the party started this season after getting the Borussia band back together at Arsenal, Mirror says.

New signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos is the third former Dortmund player to join the Gunners following the arrivals of Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January.

And along with Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, another former employee of the Bundesliga side, there’s a nice little quartet.

Mkhitaryan admits he played his part in the player reunion by firing off encouraging text messages to his old mates when he found out they were wanted in north London.

He said: “It’s always nice to play with your old team-mates, with Aubameyang and Sokratis.

“We’re all looking forward to the new season and we’re going to do our best to help this team reach the top four of the Premier League.

“I am always in touch with my old team-mates, it doesn’t matter whether it is in Dortmund, Shakhtar, Manchester…

“I am in contact with them and it’s always nice to talk to them to know how things are going in their lives.

“Of course, when I came to Arsenal and heard they had the opportunity to come here I was just convincing them: ‘Come to the club.’ Because I knew they would fit in well.

“I was messaging them, yes … but I wasn’t the guy who was having to buy them,” he added, laughing.

The club Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang joined in January is already a very different one.

Arsene Wenger is no longer manager and his replacement, Unai Emery, has moved quickly to strengthen the team by signing Sokratis, Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Matteo Guendouzi.