Henrikh Mkhitaryan might be enjoying his current spell in the first team at Manchester United but the Armenian had a poor time when he first joined Jose Mourinho’s side as he struggled to perform and was often left out of the team.
The former Borussia Dortmund attacker, however, stated that he had a lot to be thankful to former manager Jurgen Klopp as the German helped Mkhitaryan out during their time at Dortmund.
Speaking to BBC’s Football Focus, the attacker stated that some sound advice from Klopp has stuck with him since playing at Dortmund.
“I am thankful to Klopp. He worked on my personality and the psychological part,” he said.
“At Dortmund, I was very stressed after a few games when we were playing really bad.
“Klopp showed me the way. He supported me and told me I had to keep my head up because good things were coming. He helped me to become a player.”
After a slow start to his career at Old Trafford, the 28-year-old has ended up with five goals for the Red Devils. While Mkhitaryan still needs a bit of time to get back to his Dortmund best, he is showing glimpses of just how good he was under Klopp.
Mkhitaryan spent a couple of seasons with Klopp in the Bundesliga before the German joined Liverpool. The Armenian made a similar move to England in the summer of this season and now is a regular for Jose Mourinho’s high flying team.
While playing for the enemy, Mkhitaryan did add that there were similarities between Klopp and Mourinho.
“They are both very friendly and very good at their jobs but the way they work is different,” Mkhitaryan added of Klopp and Mourinho.
“It is the first year under Jose’s management and we are working very hard. He tells us what he wants to see. Of course, it is not very easy when you have a new manager.
“You have to adapt to him and the team, the training sessions and the games. At the beginning we had a little bit of difficulties but then we started winning in November.”
Liverpool and Manchester United have had pretty similar seasons and the pair is only separated by a point with just 13 games to go for the season.
They both are trying to get into the Champions League but it seems only one of them will be able to do that given the great battle with the rest of the clubs in the top six.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ1ubQBE6mw
