Outrage in Armenia as Mkhitaryan left off list of top 10 sportspeople

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is at the centre of a controversy in his native Armenia after being omitted from a list of the country's top 10 sporting personalities in 2016.

The 27-year-old is his nation's highest-ever international goalscorer and has started to demonstrate his talents after finally breaking into the Manchester United team following his summer move from Borussia Dortmund.

However, Armenia's Federation of Sports Journalists could find no room for him in their countdown of the country's most exceptional sportspeople, despite the same panel crowning him the national footballer of the year for a seventh successive occasion.

Ruben Hayrapetyan, president of the Armenian FA, released a statement condemning the panel's decision, insisting: "We can't deny Mkhitaryan's contribution and achievements in this sport and everyone knows about it, even those who tried to compose tales about how they chose the top athletes of the year.

"It's immoral that the overwhelming majority of sport journalists, who have taken part in the same voting, start their professional business with news about Henrikh Mkhitaryan and end it again with Henrikh Mkhitaryan every single day."

In Mkhitaryan's absence, the top 10 was led by Artur Aleksanyan, a Greco-Roman wrestler who won gold in the Olympic Games this summer. It also featured two other Greco-Roman wrestlers, five weightlifters and two gymnasts.

News of the panel omitting Mkhitaryan comes just after the United striker wowed fans with an exceptional goal against Sunderland on Boxing Day.