“I Always Wanted To Become A Footballer And I Thank My Parents, Who Helped Me So Much To Realise This Dream.” – Henrikh Mkhitaryan An Inspiration To Nigerian Youths
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was born on the 21st of January 1989 in Yerevan, capital of Armenia to parents- late former footballer, Hamlet Mkhitaryan (father) and Marina Taschyan (mother).
In 1989, when he was just a few months old, his family moved to France because of some conflicts that were brewing in Armenia. His father played five years for Valence in France’s second division.
According to Henrikh ..“When I was 4, I’d always cry when my dad would leave for club training. Every morning I’d say, ‘Dad, take me with you. Please, please take me with you!’
At that age, I didn’t care about football yet, I just wanted to be with my father. But he didn’t want to be distracted during training by worrying about me running off, so he came up with a clever plan to fool me. One morning, I said, ‘Dad, take me to train.’
He said, ‘No, no. There’s no training today, Henrikh. I’m going to the supermarket. I’ll be right back.’ He escaped to training, and I waited … and waited. He came back home after a few hours. No grocery bags. I lost it. I started crying.
‘You lied to me! You didn’t go to the supermarket! You went to play football!’
His dad made up for this by taking little Henrikh out to watch snow activities which he loved as a kid.
Also from that day onwards, Hemlet started taking his son to the training ground. Henrikh soon developed the love for football and began following his father’s footsteps as he watched him train. I always wanted to become a footballer and I thank my parents, who helped me so much to realize this dream.”
Thou his parents wanted football for him but also insisted education must be a must for their child. Miki learnt how to combine both education and football in the best possible way. He grew up to be a young bright boy.
He learnt football from his father Hamlet who was a prominent striker during his time in the 1908s. Unfortunately, the early death of his father impacted him greatly (Details of his death discussed later in the article).
Henrikh feels that if his father was still alive, “everything would be different.” In his words, “The year after my father died, I started football training.
He was the drive for me, he was my idol. I said to myself, I have to run just like him. I have to shoot just like him.”
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