Borussia Dortmund have been dealt a huge blow in their pursuit to secure the long-term future of their star players with Henrikh Mkhitaryan set to reject their contract extension.
Mkhitaryan, 27, has been arguably Dortmund’s best player this season but he is about to enter the final 12 months of his current deal and has no intentions of extending his contract this summer.
Dortmund could now face the prospect of losing the Armenia international for free next summer and could be forced to sell him this summer if he has no intentions of committing beyond the end of next season.
Thomas Tuchel’s side have become used to losing their star players in this situation following the departures of Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze and Mats Hummels in recent times.
Dortmund have been locked in talks with Mkhitaryan’s agent Mino Raiola since the turn of the year and had hoped to announce something after the DFB Pokal final earlier this month but German newspaper Bild report he is set to reject their offer.
“Why should we prolong it now? ‘Micki’ is under contract until 2017, and we continue to think about his future,” Raiola told Bild, ESPN.
Mkhitaryan finished the Bundesliga campaign as the highest rated player (7.90) after scoring 11 goals and registering 15 assists in 31 appearances. Not only that, but only Zlatan Ibrahimovic (14) and Lionel Messi (13) earned more WhoScored.com Man of the Match awards than the Dortmund star (11) this season.
For more stats on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
