Ownership issues hold up Liverpool’s Mkhitaryan move

Issues over the ownership of Henrikh Mkhitaryan have held up the player’s proposed move to Liverpool and forced him to delay flying to England to undergo a medical.

Earlier this week, the Armenian attacking midfielder was expected to be heading to Merseyside to undergo a medical ahead of a proposed move to Liverpool.

However, it has emerged that the player is not solely owned by his club Shaktar Donetsk. They hold 50% of his ownership rights, with the other 50% shared by two Armenian businessmen. Therefore, when Shaktar moved to deny any such deal had been agreed, they were quite probably speaking in relation to their half of the ownership.

Third party ownership is currently common in South America and Eastern Europe, but will be banned from 2015 under UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play ruling.

Mkhitaryan was, according to reports in The Mirror and European press, preparing to head to Liverpool this week but has since had to cancel plans.

Whether Liverpool knew of Mkhitaryan’s ownership issues previous to reports claiming a deal had been agreed is unclear.

The player himself is said to be keen on a move to Liverpool and a deal is definitely still in the club’s interests.

Meanwhile, Luis Alberto will complete his move from Sevilla today, he has undergone a medical and an announcement is imminent.

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