Update from Watzke: Mkhitaryan isn’t Allowed to Leave this Summer

Massive news out of Germany today regarding the future of midfield-maestro Henrikh Mkhitaryan. In an interview with Bild, BVB Boss Hans-Joachim Watzke followed up yesterday’s announcement that Micki had refused to sign a contract extension by telling the newspaper that the Armenian would not be allowed to leave the Schwarzgelbe this summer.

Mkhitaryan’s future at the club has become quite the saga and it should come as no surprise that discussions between the player and club were quite intense. But to hear what Watzke and Mino Raiolo have to say about the negotiations almost sounds like a case of "he said, she said."

According to Watzke, the club tried "…for four months to negotiate an extension with Henrikh. Now we know that he won’t," while also clarifying that there was never an obligation for the club to allow the midfielder to leave early. Raiolo then had a few unsavory words to say about the decision by BVB: "Micki was promised for months that he would be allowed to leave the club in the summer. Dortmund has [even] received a concrete offer from another club." One can almost picture the notorious agent pouting and stomping his feet.

Having already lost captain Mats Hummels to Bayern München and Ilkay Gündogan to Manchester City, it makes sense for the club to keep its remaining star players. But Raiolo, perhaps in an attempt to save face, implies that, "…Watzke is afraid of his own fans. Now they [the club] are saying that Micki should leave for free next summer. That’s bad management."

Whew, okay Raiolo.

Since Raiolo specifically mentioned the fans, we can’t help but state that we’ve already covered whether or not Micki should leave. For a good portion of us, since Micki will definitely be leaving Dortmund in the future, then it makes more sense for the club to get as much money for him as possible. So BVB should go ahead and sell him, for the largest transfer possible, of course. And for this fan at least, as long as Micki doesn’t get sold to our rivals in the south, I won’t mind more money in the war chest.

What are your thoughts? Disagree with me entirely? Want to start a letter-writing campaign to Watzke and Raiolo? Let me know in the comments!