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• Soccer: Ukrainian Champions League hopefuls emboldened by new Armenian signing

Bravo Henrikh: You are a bright light in armenian football which is mostly in a dark place. You have progressed from Metallurg to Shakhtar which is a big team in europe hopefully you will progress even further in the future to perhaps a bigger team in europe. Hopefully your success in your club team could translate to the Armenian National team, and you will have sucess there also. ...

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Shakhtar Donetsk have officially announced this week that they have completed the transfer of young midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from the city’s rival club Metallurh, at a cost of 6 million euros (about $7.5 million). The 21-year-old Armenia international, who signed a five-year deal with his new club hours before the closure of the international transfer window on Tuesday, has become Armenia’s highest valued soccer player so far.

Mkhitaryan, the son of former Armenia player Hamlet Mkhitaryan, started his professional career with FC Pyunik Yerevan, scoring 30 goals in his 69 appearances for the team. He joined Metallurh Donetsk in the 2009-10 season and immediately developed into a key player, scoring nine goals in 29 games and becoming the team’s captain.

The talented midfielder involved in Armenia’s U-21 and its main national teams scored three goals in his first seven matches of the 2010-11 campaign before signing with Ukraine’s reigning champions that currently hold a five-point lead in the domestic league over Dynamo Kiev.

Shakhtar’s Romanian head coach Mircea Lucescu told Russia’s Sport-Express publication that he had followed Mkhitaryan’s performances still since the Ukrainian club played against Pyunik in a Champions League qualifier three years ago. He said he believed the promising Armenian player would increase competition in the middle of the field.

Mkhitaryan also considers his transfer as a “very important step” to improve as a player.

“Shakhtar Donetsk is a very strong team, and it will be very important for me to fight for a place in the starting line-up,” he told the Ukrainian club’s official website (www.shakhtar.com).

“I have big expectations. Obviously, one can not be one hundred percent sure that if you move to Shakhtar, then you are immediately guaranteed to play in the first team. First of all, we must show good football ourselves in training to win a place in the starting line-up,” added Mkhitaryan, who will wear a Shakhtar jersey with number 22.

Lucescu expects Mkhitaryan to join the club immediately after he returns from his international duty with Armenia in time for the start, in the middle of the month, of the Champions League campaign where Shakhtar face Partizan (Belgrade, Serbia), Sporting Braga (Portugal) and Arsenal (London, England) in the group stage.

Mkhitaryan feels exited over this opportunity: “Probably every player dreams once in his career to take part in matches of that level, he dreams to come on the pitch to the Champions League anthem... But playing in this tournament is not only pleasant, but I think it is rather difficult, too.”