Late on Tuesday, German publication Bild broke the news that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be leaving Borussia Dortmund this summer but he wants a Manchester United move, not an Arsenal one – Dortmund are having none of it.

Despite Arsenal being heavily linked with the attacking midfielder, it looks as if the player would prefer a transfer to the Red Devils, who could get him for a steal at £25m, since he’s only got a year left on his contract with Dortmund.

The news has stemmed directly from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s agent, which makes it hard to contest.

“Those in charge at BVB promised Micki months ago that he can leave the club in the summer,” his agent, Mino Raiola, confirmed.

“Dortmund have an official offer, but the BVB bosses now fear their fans. All of a sudden they say that he has to leave on a free next summer. That’s very bad management.”

“Manchester United are a unique opportunity. Micki wants to join them now by any means.”

Sure enough, Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, has spoken up the day after the news broke, insisting that Mkhitaryan is going to have to run down the remainder of his contract in the Bundesliga, which will mean he leaves on a free next summer.

“We’ve been negotiating a new deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan for four months,” Watzke said to Bild.

“We now know he won’t sign an extension. There was never a promise that he can leave us prematurely.”

He added, “We have intensely discussed the question of an early transfer in all club bodies and came to the conclusion that Mkhitaryan will stay in Dortmund next season.”

So what does this tell us? The Armenian clearly isn’t going to sign an extension, that much is clear. Will they force him to stay in Germany? The language used doesn’t sound very ‘forceful’ but, then again, this could be lost in translation.

It’s a bold move, and potentially a costly one. However, it does go to show how highly they rate the 27-year-old.

Saying all this, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to still see Mkhitaryan move this summer.

Now, with so much noise surrounding his move to Arsenal, the link to Manchester United could be used as a tool by Raiola to bump up wages. Although, this isn’t to say moving to United wouldn’t be an attractive prospect for him and his people. Not to mention the fact that Raiola is also Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent, you can see why it’d be in his interest for his client to move there.