Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has spoken on why he decided not to feature midfielder, Henrikh Mkhitaryan in United’s squad against Newcastle in the Premier League.
The Red Devils returned to winning ways with a stylish 4-1 victory against the newly promoted side at the weekend in the EPL.
Mourinho said the choice he made not to play the Armenia International was based purely on current form of United players.
“The story is always the same. In some positions, when you don’t have injuries, you have lots of options in other positions,” Mourinho said, speaking ahead of United’s Champions League game against Basel on Wednesday.
“In this moment, we have Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.
“So I can imagine, next week, you are going to ask – why is this player not playing?
“Micki is not playing because we had lots of options for that match. I decided to play Marcus Rashford and Martial together.
“For many weeks, the question was – why do they not play together? Now, the question is why is Micki not playing.
“The answer is very simple – until the international board change the rules, I can only start with 11,” Mourinho said.
Mkhitaryan had played at least 45 minutes in each of United’s 11 prior Premier League matches.
The 28-year-old only managed a goal and five assists in his first five games.
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