Which Is Mkhitaryan's Best Position?

Manchester United's latest signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan has performed a variety of roles throughout his career and will offer numerous options to new manager Jose Mourinho.

Fans will wait with intrigue to see where Mourinho feels his new signing is best suited within the team but evidence over the past three seasons at Borussia Dortmund suggests he is most effective as a wide player. Last term, he was regularly switched from the right to left flank and recorded remarkable figures in both positions.

From 24 games on the right, he delivered 10 goals and 17 assists. On the opposite wing, he supplied 12 goals and 12 assists from 21 appearances. He played six games in an attacking midfield slot and only one as a support striker, during a 5-1 away defeat to Bayern Munich in October, which might not have been fairly representative of his ability to perform such a task. United's Adnan Januzaj came on as a substitute in that fixture during his loan stint at Dortmund.

In 2014/15, Mkhitaryan was used on the right (22) more often than the left (16) but throughout his opening campaign in Germany he was regularly deployed as a central attacking midfielder. The Armenia international has appeared once for Dortmund in a deeper midfield role but most of his work is as a creative, forward-thinking force.

So it is only in his last couple of seasons at the Westfalenstadion that he has matured into a top-class wide player. Previously, with Shakhtar Donetsk, he was a central attacking midfielder who would operate from the middle. This is where he showcased his intelligence and ability to influence games rather than as an out-and-out winger in the mould of Ryan Giggs or Andrei Kanchelskis, the only other United player from the old Soviet Union.

At international level, his versatility becomes even more apparent. Clearly the main man for Armenia, and captain, he carries a lot of responsibility on his shoulders but has no fixed role. In his last four outings for his country, he started in different positions in each of them (attacking midfield, central midfield, left wing and right wing). In some of the most taxing fixtures, he tends to move to an orthodox midfield slot but was actually deployed as centre-forward in two games against Denmark in 2013 and 2014.

One thing that does seem pretty certain is Mourinho will not view his latest acquisition as a striker but rather a shrewd attacker who can operate on either flank and is capable of being equally effective in those wide areas. Depending on which formation the master tactician uses on any given occasion, Mkhitaryan should be ready to answer the call to add the required attacking nous and carry out his manager's instructions with his renowned intelligence.

Note: Positional data sourced from TransferMarkt.co.uk.