Watzke rules out Dortmund return for Mkhitaryan

Borussia Dortmund will not re-sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United, according to CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

The Armenia international moved to Old Trafford in August for a reported £26.3million fee, but has struggled to make any impact under Jose Mourinho due largely to injury problems.

Dortmund bought back Shinji Kagawa from United in 2014, while Nuri Sahin and Mario Gotze have rejoined the club in recent seasons after difficult spells away from Signal Iduna Park.

But Watzke, when asked by Kicker if he would consider a move to bring back Mkhitaryan, replied: “No.”

He continued: “Any intelligent player should consider in advance what kind of environment they are moving to.

“When you are playing in surroundings where things are working for you, like in Dortmund, then it is quite strange to give that away again once things have finally started to work out for you after a long time settling in.”

Watzke went on to take a swipe at Mkhitaryan’s agent, Mino Raiola, who accused Dortmund of bad management as they initially appeared reluctant to allow the player to leave.

He also suggested that the departures of Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan, who joined Bayern Munich and Manchester City respectively, were more damaging losses.

“We need to cope with losing two world-class players in Hummels and Gundogan and also Mkhitaryan,” Watzke said.

“In Mkhitaryan’s case it was the player’s decision. Raiola is intelligent, and he’s a brute. He has a certain business model, but we knew that already when we sat down because of Mkhitaryan. You know what you have with him. Raiola acted correctly.”