Paulo Fonseca provides update as Henrikh Mkhitaryan injury absence drags on | OneFootball

Paulo Fonseca says AS Roma still need to wait a while longer for the return of Henrikh Mkhitaryan from injury, despite some recent improvement in his situation.

Mkhitaryan was ruled out with injury at the very start of October, with reports suggesting he’d strained an adductor muscle and would miss two to three weeks of football.

Over a month later, the Arsenal loanee is still yet to make it back into the AS Roma squad. Speaking this week, head coach Paulo Fonseca suggested it could even be a bit longer before Mkhitaryan is ready to make his comeback.

“Mkhitaryan is improving, but it’s a slow process and we need to wait a while longer,” Fonseca said.

Evidently, the rehabilitation process hasn’t gone exactly as planned so far. We’re still very early in the season though, so there’s still time for Mkhitaryan to return to the pitch and prove he deserves a permanent deal with his loan club.

The 30-year-old had made a good start with Roma, scoring once and assisting once in four games. He’d also scored twice and assisted once with Armenia in the two games he played after his move from Arsenal.

It’s a shame the injury put a stop to his progress, and the rest of his season will be defined by how he recovers from this early setback.