Arsenal Reject First AS Roma Offer For Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Arsenal are currently still in the midst of negotiations for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s sale to AS Roma.

Reports claim that they rejected the first offer from the Serie A outfit this past week.

Roma wanted to extend Mkhitaryan’s loan agreement for another season. His contract is due to end in 2021 which would make him a free agent next summer so this makes the offer completely against Arsenal’s plans.

The Gunners do have an option to extend the Armenian’s contract by one more year but that will see his wages get bumped up from £150,000-per-week to £250,000-per-week. Arsenal already have a huge problem with their player salaries and it would be needless to take on another large contract right now.

Even if Roma were to pay his wages for the season, Arsenal will be left with a 32-year-old midfielder without any guarantee of a buyer. If anything, the Gunners need to offload such players from their books to better manage their financial structure. The ongoing health crisis has already taken a huge toll on the North London outfit since majority of their earnings come from matchday ticket sales.

Mikel Arteta will not be guaranteed a huge transfer kitty this summer and might have to resort to free-agent signings and loan deals. Mkhitaryan, while a player of high reputation, simply is not worth his wages right now. Arsenal will be wise to get rid of the veteran any way they can, even if that calls for them to lower their asking price.