MKHITARYAN: KAKA WAS MY IDOL

Manchester United winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan has revealed that his idol while growing up was Brazilian legend Kaka.

Mkhitaryan joined Manchester United over the summer for £28million from Borussia Dortmund but the Armenia international had a far less conventional beginning in football.

The winger went to Brazil as a youngster for four months to train with Sao Paolo before kick-staring his career with Armenian side Pyunik.

And the 27-year-old has revealed he did so to be more like his idol Kaka and to learn the ‘ginga’ style of Brazilian football.

Kaka was a huge influence on Mkhitaryan growing up.

“By the time I was 10 years old, my entire life was football. Training, reading, watching, even playing football on PlayStation,” Mkhitaryan told The Players’ Tribune.

“I was totally focused on it. I especially loved the creative players — the maestros.

“I always wanted to play like [Zinedine] Zidane, Kaka and Hamlet [his father].

“That was one of the most interesting times of my life [going to Brazil].

Mkhitaryan also revealed that he was a shy kid while growing up and that he could not speak any Portuguese but he insisted that he did not care about that at all because he always believed that he was getting to a football paradise.

He said that he had dreamed of being like Kaka on numerous occasions and that he loved the Brazilian style of play called ‘Ginga’.

According to him, when he returned to Armenia after spending four months in Brazil, he was still very skinny and weak but he had technique and skill.

He concluded by saying that he always felt free on the pitch and he always felt like the ‘Armenian Ronaldinho’.

Mkhitaryan endured a <center><img src=”http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/secondary/Henrikh-Mkhitaryan-Manchester-United-Idol-Kaka-Brazil-741205.jpg” width=”500″></center> but his recent performances have been impressive. He has scored two goals and provided three assists so far this season.