Manchester United’s deleted image of Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally explained

That explains that.

It was subject to a torrent of mockery, and such was the level of ridicule of fans of all affiliations that in the end Manchester United decided to delete the image from their official Twitter account to save Henrikh Mkhitaryan any further grief. In case you didn't know, United posted this advert for their new home shirt, modelled by the genial Armenian. As you can see, the player's posture made it seem as though he had something of a prominent belly (a belly most of us lazy sods certainly wouldn't complain about). Football fans being football fans, and social media being social media, people of all club colours jumped on the image and took the piss. It was mostly good natured, but there were some who went too far and even questioned the 28-year-old's professionalism to return to pre-season training unfit. Well it seems that wasn't the case at all. Despite accusations that Mkhitaryan overindulged during the summer, the Manchester Evening News have been informed that the photoshoot actually took place BEFORE the end of last season, rather than after the new kit was officially unveiled. And as we saw in the Europa League final, the player was very much match fit. Not only that but Mkhitaryan has trained every day whilst holidaying his Armenia this summer and was one of the first United players to arrive back in Manchester for pre-season training. As you can see, he's looking lean, muscular, and as fit as a fiddle.