ARSENAL flop Henrikh Mkhitaryan is hoping to stay at Roma “for another few years” despite his loan expiring this summer.
The Armenian playmaker joined the Gunners in a straight-swap with Alexis Sanchez in January 2018.
But both players struggled with their respective moves – Sanchez ended up loaned out to Inter Milan with Mkhitaryan joining him in Serie A with Roma.
And now Mkhitaryan is hoping he can stay with the Italian giants and is hoping the two clubs agree a transfer fee.
Speaking on the Futbol with Grant Wahl podcast as reported by Goal, the 31-year-old said: “Of course I would like to be at Roma next season, not only next season [but] for another few years.
“But I still have a contract with Arsenal and it’s not up to me. It’s up to Arsenal and Roma if they will agree on terms of the transfer fee.”
But Mkhitaryan hinted that if the two clubs can’t thrash out terms, he would be prepared to knuckle down for Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
He added: “So my thinking is to train hard, to play hard, to look forward to what’s going to happen.
“Of course, if I’m not going to stay at Roma I have to go back to Arsenal. I’m not complaining, football life changes so quickly so you have to be ready to play wherever you are.
“If not in Rome, I’m going to go back and play for Arsenal, if not, I’m going to stay here and play for Rome.”
Roma took Mkhitaryan to Serie A on Italy’s Deadline Day, paying around £2.6million to borrow him for the year.
And boss Paulo Fonseca is keen on making the deal permanent.
He previously told Russian TV show Great Football: “I want him to stay and he also wants to stay.
“However, it should be clear that everything is now on hiatus, and we’ll have to talk to Arsenal.
“I want to continue working with him because he’s a great player and a great man.”
