Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin has dubbed Borussia Dortmund's new-signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan as the Champion League finalists' "new Shinji Kagawa" as the Armenian continues to impress.
Kagawa became a club icon by helping Borussia win back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12 before moving to Manchester United last year.
Mkhitaryan has impressed in his two friendly matches since joining Dortmund from Shakhtar Donetsk last week for 27.5m euros, (US$36m) both on his debut in Wednesday's 3-1 win at FC Basel, then Saturday's 4-1 win over Turkey's Buraspor.
"Honestly, he reminds me of Shinji Kagawa," said ex-Real Madrid midfielder Sahin after Saturday's win in Altach, Austria, near Dortmund's training camp.
"I think he's even a bit quicker than Shinji.
"We have a lot of quality in attack."
Having finished second to Bayern Munich in both the Bundesliga and Champions League last season, Dortmund and their Bavarian rivals could meet next weekend in a pre-season tournament at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
The rivals then meet in the German Super Cup final on July 27 in Dortmund and Borussia are eager to integrate their new signings in preparation.
"Mickey", as Mkhitaryan has been nicknamed, scored against Basel and the central midfielder was in the heart of Dortmund's attack as fellow new-signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also scored against Turkey's Buraspor.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and Germany's Marco Reus also got on the score sheet as the Turkish league side also conceded an own goal.
Having lost Germany midfielder Mario Goetze to European champions Bayern Munich, Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said he was happy with Mkhitaryan's bright start before the Bundesliga starts on August 9.
"We already suspected that Henrikh has the qualities to set up chances in key moments like he did," enthused Klopp.
Dortmund's other new addition Sokratis also impressed against the Turks as the centre-back looked calm and composed next to Serbia's Neven Subotic against the Turkish side.
Source: AFP
