Manchester: Jose Mourinho has revealed that he omitted Henrikh Mkhitaryan from his squad to face Arsenal because he felt the game was too pressurised for the out-of-favour Manchester United midfielder to cope with, in another worrying sign of the player’s ongoing struggles.

The United manager said he intends to involve Mkhitaryan against Feyenoord in the Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday, which he hopes will prove less of a pressure-cooker environment for the fragile Armenia captain.

Mourinho conceded that Mkhitaryan was frustrated and unhappy at still being frozen out but was working hard to adjust to the demands of English football and representing a club of United’s stature by keeping his own counsel and buckling down.

Yet the Portuguese’s frank admissions about Mkhitaryan’s ability to cope with the pressure of playing for United raise more troubling questions about a player who has barely figured since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in a 26.3 million pounds (Dh119.6 million) deal almost five months ago. “I told him, ‘This [Arsenal] was not the game for you, I don’t think you need 10 or 20 minutes from the bench, I think you need a good game and you need to either start or, if not, to come [on] for the second half’,” Mourinho said of Saturday’s 1-1 draw that left United nine points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea.

“He needs less pressure and better conditions for him to express his qualities. Yes [he is getting closer]. I told him that he is going to be involved in the game against Feyenoord. He is trying. Obviously he is not happy but he is transforming his frustration in a good way, which is [to] close the mouth and work hard and try to adapt.”

Mkhitaryan has not featured in the Premier League since being withdrawn at half-time of United’s 2-1 defeat at home by Manchester City on September 10, when Mourinho accused the player of being overwhelmed by the occasion. The Armenian picked up a thigh injury in that game, which kept him sidelined for a month but he has been included in only one 18-man squad since returning to fitness, when he was introduced as the third substitute in the 2-1 defeat by Fenerbahce in Istanbul three weeks ago.

Mkhitaryan was not the only United player Mourinho criticised after that game but the manager made clear that he needed to see much more from the 27-year-old.

Mkhitaryan has been included in just six of United’s 19 squads this season, including the first five games of the campaign. Mourinho had claimed upon signing him in July that he felt he would “make an impact on the team very quickly as his style of play is suited to the Premier League”. But he has encountered a player whom he believed would be stronger mentally and is now prepared to bide his time in an attempt to coax the best out of last season’s Bundesliga player of the year.

Mkhitaryan scored 23 goals and claimed 32 assists for Dortmund last term but senior officials at the German club are not thought to be too surprised by his difficulties at United. While he is a very gifted player, there was a view among the hierarchy at Dortmund that Mkhitaryan sometimes went missing in the biggest matches and that Ilkay Gundogan, who also left Dortmund in the summer for Manchester, with the Germany midfielder joining City, had a much stronger big-game mentality.

Although Mkhitaryan did not score or claim an assist in three games against Bayern Munich last season, that stance is not entirely supported by the statistics. For example, Mkhitaryan claimed three goals and an assist in wins at home and away to Borussia Monchengladbach, who finished last season fourth, scored and claimed an assist in Dortmund’s Europa League ties against Liverpool and claimed assists in wins against Bayer Levekusen and Schalke, who finished third and fifth respectively in the Bundesliga last term.

Earlier this month, Mkhitaryan vowed to fight hard to win Mourinho’s trust. “It is true that I get little time on the field, but I am not going to give in. I went a long way to play in Manchester United, so nothing will prevent me from achieving my dream,” he said.