AS Roma manager Paulo Fonseca claims Henrikh Mkhitaryan was carrying an injury from before the start of his loan spell with the club.

As we covered previously, Mkhitaryan is out for up to three weeks with an adductor injury. He’s set to miss Armenia’s fixtures over the international break and already sat out one game against Wolfsburg on Thursday.

Although the injury problem flared up in Roma’s previous Serie A match against Lecce, manager Paulo Fonseca claims it’s an issue he already had before he joined from Arsenal.

“He was already complaining of discomfort to the adductor and with this density of matches it was clear he could feel some discomfort,” Fonseca said.

“As a preventive measure I had kept him out (of the starting lineup) against Atalanta and he had recovered well. Then he got hurt against Lecce.”

Mkhitaryan had been in decent form for Roma since joining, with a goal and an assist in his first 287 minutes for the club. In fact, the only match they’d lost since he joined was the one league game he didn’t start.

The winger was making a good case to join the Serie A club on a permanent deal, but whether he now does will depend largely on how quickly and effectively he returns from injury. We wish him the best on that front.