Henrikh Mkhitaryan will miss the Europa League Final after Arsenal failed to receive sufficient assurances from UEFA over his safety in Azerbaijan.
The Gunners confirmed on Tuesday morning they have made the decision the 30-year-old should not travel to Baku next week amid political tensions between Azerbaijan and Mkhitaryan’s birthplace, Armenia, over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
There are currently no diplomatic relations between the two countries but Mkhitaryan was afforded special dispensation to receive a visa, as he was when opting against making the journey to Azerbaijan for October’s group stage game against Qarabag.
However, Arsenal were once again unsatisfied that Mkhitaryan would be protected and after lengthy discussions with his family, there were also fears expressed about the reaction in Armenia if he opted to make the 6,000-mile round trip.
“We are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad for our Uefa Europa League final against Chelsea,” read an Arsenal statement.
“We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party.
“We have written to Uefa expressing our deep concerns about this situation. Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.
“We’re also very sad that a player will miss out on a major European final in circumstances such as this, as it is something that comes along very rarely in a footballer’s career.
“Micki will continue to be part of our preparations until we depart for Baku at the weekend.”
Mkhitaryan was unlikely to start against Chelsea but he has played a key role in Arsenal’s campaign to date, featuring in 11 of their 14 Europa League matches.
The news is a blow to Unai Emery as the club continued their preparations today with a training session open to media in which 22 players took part including Danny Welbeck, who has not made a first-team appearance since November 8.
