Henrikh Mkhitaryan has joined AS Roma on loan for the season, after a year and a half with Arsenal.

AS Roma have announced the loan signing of Mkhitaryan from Arsenal on the European transfer deadline day.

Rumours from Italian outlet TMW suggested Roma had a purchase clause in the winger’s loan contract, and Fabrizio Romano also reported a buy option.

In England, they claimed the opposite. David Ornstein wrote for the BBC that there’s no option or obligation to buy. Sam Dean of the Telegraph also says there’s no obligation. Given Roma didn’t mention an option to buy in their post on the transfer, it seems the English journalists were correct.

All sources agree that Roma will pay a loan fee for the temporary transfer, of €3m (£2.7m). There’ll also be an extra €100k owed if Mkhitaryan achieves various targets with the club.

Mkhitaryan only joined Arsenal from Manchester United in January 2018, with the hope at the time that he could rediscover the form that made him so impressive in Germany. Unfortunately, his career in North London was very similar to his brief spell in Manchester.

The 30-year-old scored nine goals and assisted 13 in 59 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal. That was at least better than Sanchez managed for United, after the swap deal between the two players, but it still wasn’t good enough.

Technically, as Mkhitaryan is only leaving on loan, it’s possible we’ll see him return next season. That seems unlikely given his age and the fact his contract expires in 2021 though, so this feels like a goodbye.

We wish Mkhitaryan the best in Italy and hope he can get back to playing his best football again over there!