Henrikh Mkhitaryan has revealed that his loan move to Roma that happened on Monday all came about pretty quickly.

Arsenal's Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (L) and Arsenal's Spanish defender Nacho Monreal (R) react to another missed chance during the pre-season friendly football match for the Emirates Cup between Arsenal and Lyon at The Emirates Stadium in north London on July 28, 2019. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)
Arsenal’s Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (L) and Arsenal’s Spanish defender Nacho Monreal (R) react to another missed chance during the pre-season friendly football match for the Emirates Cup between Arsenal and Lyon at The Emirates Stadium in north London on July 28, 2019. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

It was a surprise to many Arsenal fans when news broke of Mkhitaryan’s move to Italy given he’d been called on not 24 hours before to help Arsenal try to claim all three points in the North London derby. We all assumed he must have been in negotiations before the match.

Not so, according to the player himself.

“Everything happened in the last day right after the Tottenham game I got a call from my agent. He told me that I have to fly to Rome the next day and to have medicals with the team as well as to sign the contract,” said Mkhitaryan when asked by a VBetNews journalist.

“It is a great opportunity for me as I didn’t get much playing time.”

It is not clear if Mkhitaryan’s loan deal contains an obligation to buy or not with some outlets reporting there is one that will be triggered after 25 games and others saying there isn’t.

Mkhitaryan had played 111 minutes for Arsenal in the Premier League and seemed set to feature more this season with following the sale of Alex Iwobi. This way, however, one of the youngsters will get a chance and that’s ok with me!