Clubs: FC Pyunik, FC Metalurh Donetsk, FC Shakhtar Donetsk

• The son of one of Armenia's best known footballers, Hamlet Mkhitaryan, he made his debut for Yerevan club Pyunik at 17 and won his first cap for Armenia − in a 1-1 draw with Panama − a week before his 18th birthday.

• Scored 30 goals in 70 Armenian Premier League matches, winning three titles; would have made it four out of four had he not left Pyunik midway through the 2009 season to join Metalurh Donetsk.

• Proved an immediate success in Ukrainian football, becoming Metalurh's top scorer after scoring nine goals in 29 league matches and earning himself the title of 2009 Armenian footballer of the year.

• Doubled his tally of international goals to four by scoring in each of Armenia's back-to-back UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying victories over Slovakia (3-1) and Andorra (4-0) in October 2010.

• Switched Donetsk clubs on the last day of the 2010 summer transfer window and scored his first goal for Shakhtar three weeks later in a 4-1 home win against SC Tavriya Simferopol; made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 3-0 win at SC Braga.