fantasy premier league players – new player analysis Man Utd’s Henrik Mkhitaryan

Fantasy Premier League, New player profiles

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is a 27 year old 1.78m (5 foot 10 inch) Armenian International attacking midfielder who has signed for Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund. We look at the player, assessing his stats and his fantasy prospects for Man Utd with particular emphasis on fantasy premier league

fantasy premier league players – new player analysis Man Utd’s Henrik Mkhitaryan

Here’s his stats from Bundesliga in Germany plus his Champions League/Europa League stats and comparisons with some comparable midfielders from FPL.

MkhitaryanStats

His international record for Armenia is excellent, 59 games with 19 goals.  A strike rate of 32% which for Armenia and a midfielder is impressive.

It’s worth noting that although his Bundesliga stats for 15/16 were 11 goals and 20 assists his all competition stats for 15/16 were 23 goals and 32 assists which is quite incredible.  The thing that strikes you is that last season is so far ahead of previous years and he was a disappointment in the previous 2 years under Klopp.

His fantasy prospects

Lets start with the good stuff.  He was Bundesliga player of the year last season.  He didn’t play in the Euro’s so he’s fully rested.  His stats are incredible.  He has it all in terms of an attacking midfielder.  He can dribble, go past people, score and create chances.  Despite his questionable form for Klopp this is what Klopp said of him as quoted in the guardian:

“There is no doubt in my mind that he is one of the most talented players in the world,” the manager said. “He possesses an incredible combination of speed and technique. There’s very, very few you can say that about.

“There’s a reason why the world’s best chess players come from Armenia like Mkhitaryan. They’re thinkers, they’re hard workers, they graft.”

For Man Utd he most likely solve the RWM issue in a 4-2-3-1.  Although he was used in many positions in his last season for Dortmund, this was the most common.  This is the problem position that Mata and Lingard have been unable to solve.  Rooney is likely to be the CAM.  It’s inconceivable that Mkhitaryan won’t be starting and probably in that RWM position.

In terms of playing style he’s probably like Eriksen and Ozil,  A drifter around finding space to create chances.  However he is more of a goal scorer than Ozil and has more speed and an ability to go past people that those 2 don’t.  Interestingly, his creating chances stats actually weren’t as good as Ozils as Mkhitaryan benefited from the lethal finishing of  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang whereas Ozil had Giroud.  Mkhitaryan is a very positive footballer.  He had a low pass completion rate due to his desire to find the killer ball.  From a Mourinho perspective he also has good defensive stats which will help that aspect of his game.  Something that Hazard in particular was criticised for by Mourinho.

What about Transfers from the German League?  Obviously Kagawa from Dortmund to Man Utd was a failure.  Whether he had enough of a chance to establish himself would be his mitigation.  However Kevin De Bruyne of Wolfsburg adjusted quickly and successfully.  It’s doubtful whether his very early years at Chelsea was the reason.  I would also say that Firmino, although he was introduced slowly and started slowly, was a success in the latter part of the season

Here’s Man Utd’s first 6 games:

manutd1617fixt

So as I said for Ibrahimovic,  3 good away games and a couple of tricky home games. Could be worse.

Summary

  • Fantastic 15/16 stats.  Less so before
  • No Euro 2016 so well rested
  • Will probably start as a RWM for Man Utd
  • Reasonably good fixtures to start
  • De Bruyne has shown an ability to adjust from the Bundesliga

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