Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s role a Champagne problem for Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger will enjoy fitting Henrikh Mkhitaryan into an Arsenal team already loaded with creative midfielders, including Mesut Ozil.

Fitting Henrikh Mkhitaryan into an Arsenal team already featuring Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey will be more of a Champagne problem than a real issue for manager Arsene Wenger.

Mkhitaryan has reportedly agreed to join the Gunners from Manchester United as contract rebel Alexis Sanchez prepares to move the other way. BBC Sport’s David Ornstein confirmed the swap deal between the two Premier League rivals and detailed what is left to be done before both players can be introduced at their new clubs:

Playing swapsies with United means Arsenal will replace a free-scoring forward with a creative attacking midfielder. Mkhitaryan is more of a No. 10 than Sanchez, but the Gunners already have lots of those, right?

It’s true Wenger’s squad is overflowing with schemers who thrive in forward areas. The most notable is Ozil, a natural No. 10 similar to Mkhitaryan in terms of skill and vision.

In fact, Ozil and Mkhitaryan might as well be carbon copies of one another. They are outrageously gifted, yet mercurial, creators.

Yet it needn’t be a question of whether there’s room in Arsenal’s best XI for Mkhitaryan. Wenger is the one manager who won’t mind having to find a role for Ozil mark II even if it means sacrificing the balance of his team.

The Frenchman has already offered a refreshingly straightforward answer to the perceived problem of integration, per James Benge of the London Evening Standard: “Just play the good players! They can always play together.”

Wenger was speaking after Arsenal dismantled Crystal Palace 4-1 at home in the Premier League on Saturday. He noted how the Gunners took apart the Eagles with a starting XI brimming with forward-thinking talent:

"Today what have you on the pitch? They’re all attacking players. (Alex) Iwobi, Ozil, (Jack) Wilshere, Lacazette, (Granit) Xhaka. They’re all offensive players, basically."

His critics will point to this overloading of attacking players as the reason Arsenal haven’t won a title since 2004. Wenger’s subsequent squads have lacked the blend of silk and steel familiar when Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva underpinned Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.

While there’s more than a hint of truth to those arguments, there’s also a tradeoff to Wenger’s preference for No. 10s. The Gunners may be vulnerable defensively, but they can also produce classy and stylish, expansive football with so many artisans making use of the ball.

Arsenal’s slick one- and two-touch brand of soccer, their modus operandi ever since Wenger took charge in 1996, doesn’t happen by accident. It comes about thanks to the proliferation of cerebral pass-masters like Mkhitaryan and Ozil.

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You simply can’t produce some of the pass-and-move masterpieces Arsenal have rendered without an abundance of creative worker bees.

Think back to Jack Wilshere’s goal against Norwich in 2013, an epic exchange of rapid passes and flicks. Tomas Rosicky capped a similarly gorgeous collection of passes to net a brilliant goal against Sunderland later the same season.

Both moves owed everything to the platoon of maestros pulling the strings. Wilshere and Rosicky were involved, but so were Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Ramsey.

Ozil is the one constant from then to now. Fitting him into a team of creative players was a “problem” Wenger saw as a positive in 2014, per the Guardian‘s Amy Lawrence:

"It is a debate as old as the world. Since we played football. When you look at the Brazil team in 1970 they had Tostão, Rivelino, Pelé, Jairzinho, Gerson, Clodoaldo, They all played No10 in their clubs. They put them all together and they won the World Cup in a convincing way."

Wenger’s desire to load up on No. 10s has been a career-long habit. But there’s a method to the supposed madness.

His first great Arsenal team, the double winners of 1997-98, were defined by the creative output of Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman’s technique and eye for a pass made him Wenger’s perfect quarterback.

The Arsenal boss is fond of mixing his sports terminology and has often seen shades of American football’s most important position on the soccer pitch. Here’s his take on the importance of a pass-machine from 2013, per John Cross of the Daily Mirror:

"You need one guy who can pass the ball – the quarterback – to one guy who can score the goal – the receiver.Once you have a guy who can give passes to score, you will always have a chance to win football games. The rest is based on teamwork and attitude."

Bergkamp’s vision allied to the pace of Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka made the 97-98 vintage of Arsenal a turbo-charged menace. The problem was this talented squad quickly became overly reliant on Bergkamp for creativity.

Goals dried up the following season when the Gunners were pipped to the title, along with everything else, by Manchester United. While Arsenal leaned heavily on Bergkamp, the Red Devils had Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Teddy Sheringham to play quarterback.

Wenger responded by steadily stacking his kitchen with more than one cook. Ljungberg arrived in ’98, although his greatest attribute was his movement off the ball. The same season saw the arrival of Nwankwo Kanu, a forward with a similar knack for splitting defenses as Bergkamp.

Thierry Henry was signed in ’99 and would develop into the dream mesh of a coltish No. 11, an astute No. 10 and a prolific No. 9. Henry’s life was made easier by the signing a year later of Robert Pires, a roaming playmaker whose wanderlust made Arsenal the most fluid side in the land.

Suddenly, the Gunners were no longer so reliant on Bergkamp. Instead, they were loaded with thoughtful passers in midfield and along the front.

The result was Wenger’s richest period, both materially and stylistically. Arsenal won three FA Cups and two league titles between 2001-05, and went unbeaten in 2003-04.

Having more than one creative fulcrum was a major reason why.

Weening his team off reliance on one man is a problem Wenger faces today. It’s why replacing Sanchez with Mkhitaryan can prove a masterstroke.

The Chilean has been a superb player who has routinely proved the difference for the Gunners, as statistics from BBC Sport show:

Yet for all his brilliance, Sanchez has been something of a one-man band. When he’s gotten the ball it’s been easy for fans to wait and expect magic.

It’s usually come too, either in the form of a seemingly impossible pass somehow circumnavigating four defenders to release a runner, or a twinkle-toed dance past two markers before a rasping shot into the top corner.

The problem is not only have Arsenal supporters gawped with expectation in Sanchez’s direction. So have his teammates.

His fellow players standing and waiting has made the Sanchez-led Gunners a more static and predictable group. Speaking of the group, being so tethered to the brilliance of an individual goes against the socialist, cohesive symmetry Wenger has usually preached.

Putting Mkhitaryan’s collective talents alongside Ozil, Wilshere and Co. will restore the inclusive intricacies of “Wengerball.”

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It shouldn’t be a problem fitting the Armenia international into the team effervescent against Palace.

Wilshere was allowed to push forward because Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny provided a two-man base behind him. His forays into the final third let him link with Ozil and Alex Iwobi, who were the de facto wide players or inverted wingers in the formation.

Having the promising but inconsistent Iwboi make way for Mkhitaryan is the obvious choice. Alternatively, Wilshere could slot in alongside Xhaka, with Elneny making way. Then Ozil would drop a little deeper, a position he has shown an affinity for already.

It would leave Mkhitaryan to adopt a roving brief from wide areas, much the way he did while starring for Borussia Dortmund before moving to United in 2016.

Wenger wanted to sign Mkhitaryan the same summer. Now he’s going to get another chance to put his multiple No. 10 theory into practice.

Finding a place for Mkhitaryan won’t be a problem for Wenger. In fact, it could herald a return to the artistry his best Arsenal teams won titles with.