Man Utd have offer for Mkhitaryan rejected

Manchester United have made an opening bid of €25 million for Borussia Dortmund's Henrikh Mkhitaryan which has been rejected by the German club, according to transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio.

Mkhitaryan's contract is set to expire at the end of next season, and Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has admitted that the 27-year-old Armenian midfielder will not be signing a new deal with the club.

However, Watzke has also been firm in his stance that Mkhitaryan will not be allowed to leave this summer, and that the club would rather keep him for one more season and lose him for free next summer.

"We at the club actively discussed the option of parting ways with Henrikh Mkhitaryan ahead of time," Watzke told Bild. "And we decided that he should stay at BVB also next season."

But Di Marzio's latest report suggests that the Bundesliga club do have a price at which they would be willing to let Mkhitaryan go early: "The Red Devils have offered €25 million, but Dortmund is asking for at least €40 million."

Mkhitaryan's agent Mino Raiola -- who also counts United target Zlatan Ibrahimovic among his star clients -- has openly discussed the former Shakhtar Donetsk player's desire to move to Old Trafford, stating that: "He wants to go to Manchester United and we are still trying to resolve the situation."

Mkhitaryan is coming off the back of an outstanding season with BVB, in which he scored 11 goals and registered 20 assists in the Bundesliga alone, helping Thomas Tuchel's men to a second-place finish.