I’VE learnt how to pronounce his name. I know how he scores his goals. I could work as the facial recognition guy for the CIA when grainy half arsed photos of him are proffered dubiously forth on social media. I know what his sister’s job is. I know how he has suffered.
He’s called Mkhitaryan. I hear Duran Duran’s ‘No-tor-i-ous’ every time they say his name. It will be his song. Our song.
He belongs in Liverpool. The city will drown him in its love. Luis’s and Fernandos will come and go. The tribe are ready for a new hero, in a land jam packed with heroes.
Mik-tar-y-an.
No-tor-i-ous.
He’s had offers. Good ones. From the Ruhr to the Lane. They sit prettier than us, those guys. Our beauty is forever though. So fuck ‘em.
Ok, let’s get serious then. Why is this transfer taking so very very long? Shakhtar Donetsk, his keepers, they say, they grudgingly admit, that he has a 30 million DOLLAR release clause. That’s about 19.5 million pounds. They also seem to be saying that if he can find this number in his wallet, then it’s out of their hands. Contractually they have to let him go.
They know he hasn’t got that kind of change. They know he needs a benefactor who has to be clever enough to slip him that amount in a briefcase, in used euros, without the authorities getting wind. Without a tax personage having a sniff. I can’t pretend I know how people get round this one. Some seem to. Liverpool Football club may not be amongst them.
Tellingly, the Shakhtar CEO says that “If we go with the civilized way and sell a player but he severs the contract, we specify a transfer value of €30million (£25million).” Hmmm.
I’m guessing, but I think ‘civilized’ is a euphemism for ‘pay us an extra £5-ish million quid and we’ll make life easier for you / you won’t have to get creative with that accounting’.
The Ukrainians clearly do not want to sell the mighty Mkhitaryan. They have the backing to ensure that they can take the fullest of pisses out of potential suitors. Henrikh, one senses, was tapped by LFC a good while back. Both he and his Italian ‘super-agent’ were probably thrown a deal that seemed generous 6-9 months ago, before the player took his goal scoring stats into stellar territory.
So, words may have been given, romances bought into, and commitments mentally, if not contractually, made. Liverpool’s grip on the player seems, reading between many lines, to be firm. It has roots that are not simply put down by registering an interest in June. Shakhtar’s people will know this and will justifiably have the hump with all concerned.
The end game then – well, hopefully it’s near. Hopefully we’re at the ‘let’s split the difference and call it a flat £22m’ stage. Liverpool’s tight sitting suggests they feel their hand is really quite strong. I could be way out and Borussia Dortmund could be parading the player before this piece gets posted. I don’t think I am though. Bookies will shorten odds on a transfer when fans get silly and start betting on their team to get the man, but they don’t leave them as long as they are on Dortmund (and Tottenham) if they think there’s a real danger of the outcome causing them grief.
Let them be right. Let it be so. We know Mkhitaryan is brilliant. We’ve never seen him play, but what *the fuck* has that ever had to do with getting excited about a transfer. This player is important to Liverpool Football Club. Just how important is a factor of whether or not Luis Suarez stays. If he does, Henrikh Mkhitaryan may just represent that extra 5% we need to break games, to make that difference, to add a dozen more points.
If Suarez goes, Mkhitaryan may be a symbol of life after death, but the club will have to go again and add another potential superstar. The circus will need to reconvene and the strain of another saga be once again foisted on our desperate, star-gazing, souls.
Yeah, Shaktar seem to be saying to potential buyers “You know you’re going to have to pay £25m to get him, that’s £20m for us and £5m either for us or the Ukrainian tax collector, so you might as well just give it to us”. If they really refuse to budge, Liverpool should just pay the tax and tell them to stuff it.
Very good article. Mkhitaryan – Heno /as he`s called by armenians/ is great player, he is not selfish and wht is important is eager to play for LFC. Must get him quickly YNWA
Well said, mate.
Haha, it’s nice to read there are other people going through what i’m going through. This was the summer when i promised myself I wouldn’t get involved in transfer speculation. I wouldn’t run the risk of the sack from work for constantly updating Twitter or watching video’s on You Tube. I was doing well until this transfer target broke and then seemed within reach. As you say, I’ve absolutely no idea who he is or what he’s like but getting him has become an obsession for me. The first thing I say to my 10 year old lad when I get home from work every night is ‘Hi son, we still haven’t signed him’. ‘I know dad, I had a look when I got in from school’.
That aside, and this certainly isn’t aimed at you Rob, but if we were to get Mkhitaryan – would it be time for the Liverpool fans to stop criticising every aspect of the club? There’s no leadership, he’s not fit for purpose, it’s disjointed, there’s no cohesive strategy, everything’s a joke, etc etc?
We’re/ they’re clearly learning from past mistakes. Truth is, I don’t know anything about any of our signings because I only follow Liverpool but it seems we’re targeting certain types of players. I remember when FSG took over they said they wanted ‘hungry players’. Business has been done early and Papadopoulis aside, it appears we’re getting our targets. It looks like the right players are gonna go out and we’ll get a fair price for them. If Suarez goes it won’t be without a fight whether genuine or staged. The January window was a success. The way the bite was handled was better. There’s movement on the ground redevelopment yet there hasn’t been stupid ‘fork in the ground in 60 days’ comments. One would expect the club to break even this year (last year prior to extra tv money) despite not being in the CL. Players aren’t getting £100k a week for sitting on the bench or playing elsewhere. Ok, the kits are appalling and seem to have avoided feedback from anyone English at the club but I feel we’re improving and improving at a better than average rate. In reality, that’s as good as we can hope for after what we’ve been through.
Well said. Our fans need to see the progress beneath the faults. We ARE progressing. I think we’ve learned a lot over the past couple years and we will now no longer get held to ransom for players. I’m all about adding an extra couple million(because it’s not my money) to a deal but it seems we’re actually negotiating now instead of either throwing what ever price they ask for or losing out on a player.
Quality read, Rob. I think it is always worth tormenting ourselves a little on these imponderables despite hollers from others to “leave it out, you’ll know when you know”. It shines a light on aspects of the team and club that are the context to an unknowable outcome, such as if a player will sign. It offers an opportunity to consider what it is he will be joining, impacting and forcing out. By considering the message a particular signing will send out about our club, it affords us an opportunity to assess where we are, where we want to be, the gap, and ways to fill it. And let’s face it, the speculation is great fun!
Brilliant post. I have been following this saga(as have we all) since it started and I’ve gone through all the emotions of “The Transfer Saga’ already. I think this signing is important not just because YouTube and stats tell us that Mkhitaryan is a brilliant player but it’s important for us also because it is, in a sense, restoring our name. When, not if, this transfer goes through I think it sends a message of “We can still play with the big boy” not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well. This signing wouldn’t cement as a fallen super power risen again but it would create the picture of that very same fallen super power dusting off it’s fighting gloves and getting back in the ring.
Bring on Mkhitaryan!! YNWA
Excellent article, sounds just about right and makes me feel better knowing another LFC fan feels the same level of anxiety.
I trust in Ian Ayre and BR 100% and judging by business they have done already this window, that trust is well placed.
Once again, great article mate
Not sure about your song choice there. Can’t ever see myself singing a Duran Duran tune! Or are you thinking Joanne Joanne?
Anyway I have a more manly song for you……. RAM JAM. BLACK BETTY
Black Betty (Bam-a-lam)
Henrikh (Mik-tar-y-an)
…………………………………………………..
Song:
Whoa, Henrikh (Mik-tar-y-an)
Whoa, Henrikh (Mik-tar-y-an)
Brendan Rogers had a plan
(Mik-tar-y-an)
We need the Armenian
(Mik-tar-y-an)
He’s so rock steady (Mik-tar-y-an)
He’s always ready (Mik-tar-y-an)
Whoa, Henrikh (Mik-tar-y-an)
Whoa, Henrikh (Mik-tar-y-an)
…………………………………………………..
What do you think?
Paul.
tried posting this, doesn’t seem to have worked
to the tune of an englishman in New york
Woah! He’s Armenian,
His name is Mkhitaryan,
He’s an Armenian in Liver-pool
* I can’t take credit, it came from somewhere else online
Is this you Brennan? I like it!
“Our beauty is forever though. So fuck ’em.”
Superbly put.
I hope he’s a Liverpool player very soon as I’m on this site, the BBC sport pages, TalkSport, various journo Twitter accounts and any other site I can get info from… every day.
I like you Rob, I like what you say because for the most part I’m in agreement with you on the podcasts but one thing though; you can’t pronounce his name properly. It’s not Mik-tar-yan (how did you get that when the ‘k’ is straight after the ‘M’?), it’s Mu-hit-aryan, the k is silent. Sorry to be pedantic but wrong pronunciation gets on my nerves (even though I probably do it myself sometimes), just as it got to you on the last podcast about Deulofeu when someone said Dela-fo. I heard you get slightly riled, and rightly so. The main culprits are commentators but that’s another story.
Anyway enough waffle, fingers, toes and everything else crossed that Mkhitaryan will be a Liverpool player sooner rather than later, and a successful one at that.
By the way that’s a ‘Mu’ as is muck not a ‘Mu’ as in music. It’s probably M’ if anything. Christ I’m even boring myself! Soz.