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Dortmund to decide on United's £30M bid for Mkhitaryan this weekend

Reuters

Borussia Dortmund gave Manchester United the clearest sign yet that it's open to selling Henrikh Mkhitaryan after receiving a "much improved offer" believed to be worth £30 million from the Premier League outfit.

The update bodes well for United, which is now hopeful of sealing the move for the 27-year-old playmaker by the weekend, according to the Guardian's Marcus Christenson and Fabrizio Romano.

The London-based paper reported last weekend that the Red Devils had prepared a bid for Mkhitaryan, despite Dortmund's initial hard-line stance on the player.

But the £30-million offer seems to have unlocked the impasse.

"The situation is now different," Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told German media, as translated by the Guardian. "Manchester have made a much improved offer. In situations like this there are always a lot of different things to consider and in the end at one point we have to make a decision.

"And as we are back in training on Monday, we will decide at the weekend, I have contacted the relevant people and we will weigh things up at the weekend. And then the board will make the decision, definitely at the weekend."

Mino Raiola, Mkhitaryan's agent, previously said he wouldn't give up on negotiations between the two clubs, and it appears as though his persistence has been vindicated.

Mkhitaryan has just one year remaining on his contract with the German club.

Several players have already come in and out of Dortmund's doors over the past month. BVB lost Mats Hummels to Bayern Munich and Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City, but it has also brought in the likes of Emre Mor from Nordsjaelland, Raphael Guerreiro from Lorient, Ousmane Dembele from Rennes, and Sebastian Rode from Bayern.

And Dortmund apparently isn't done shopping for replacements. The club launched an official bid for Bayer Leverkusen forward Karim Bellarabi last week, and Leverkusen's sporting director, Rudi Voller, confirmed to German newspaper Bild that it was "instantly rejected."

Voller added: "To sell Karim is not an option for us at Leverkusen. He is definitely staying, he is not for sale."

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