Jose Mourinho reveals why Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not featuring for Manchester United

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s absence from Manchester United’s first team is a result of having too many options in midfield and attacking positions, according to Jose Mourinho.

The Armenian playmaker has not been involved in seven of the last eight of Mourinho’s matchday squads with the only game he featured in being as a substitute in the 1-0 win over Brighton on 25 November.

Mkhitaryan started the season brightly with a plethora of assists but the form of Jesse Lingard coupled with the number of players competing for one position means he has been forced out of the first team.

“I can only have six [outfield] players on the bench and I try to have some balance on the bench – I had two defenders and [Daley] Blind who can play in different areas,” Mourinho told manutd.com. “I had Ashley Young to cover me all of the wing and the wing-back position.

“I had [Ander] Herrera as a midfield player, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] as a striker and Marcus [Rashford] as a second striker and winger.

“I played [Anthony] Martial, [Juan] Mata and [Jesse] Lingard in the team. To have Micki means that I don’t have one of them and, in this moment, I believe the other ones they deserve [the chance to play].”