Inter midfielder Henrikh Hamlet Mkhitaryan has declared his ambitions for the coming season in unambiguous terms, stating that the Nerazzurri intend to win everything — and offering a pointed endorsement of Cristian Chivu in the same breath. "We know what he is capable of," Mkhitaryan said of Inter's head coach, words that carry weight from a player who has seen enough of European football to know the difference between a manager and a figurehead.
The significance of that public alignment is not cosmetic. Chivu's Inter closed the 2025-26 Serie A season at the summit on 86 points — 27 wins, five draws, five defeats, 86 goals scored and 32 conceded across 37 matches — and the question entering preseason is whether that standard can be sustained while the squad undergoes structural change. Mkhitaryan's willingness to plant his flag publicly, and to do so by name, signals that the dressing room's senior voice is not hedging.
His own season offered the statistical profile of a player managing his load intelligently rather than declining. Four goals and one assist across 29 Serie A appearances, with an average rating of 7.00, describe a midfielder who contributes without accumulating unnecessary minutes. At 37, that economy of effort is not a limitation — it is a skill. The AI overall score of 77 out of 100 reflects a player still operating well above replacement level, even as the potential ceiling of 72 acknowledges the arithmetic of age.
The renewal itself, which Mkhitaryan has confirmed, resolves one of the quieter anxieties of Inter's summer. The club is navigating a transfer window complicated by departures in defence, stalled arrivals, and the financial scrutiny that comes with Oaktree's ownership. Losing a midfielder of Mkhitaryan's experience and positional intelligence to free agency would have added another variable to a squad Chivu's staff is already working to stabilise. Instead, the Armenian remains — a fixed point in a midfield that may look different around him by the time the season opens.
His presence at the World Cup final, where Spain defeated Argentina 1-0, offered a reminder of the international stage Mkhitaryan still inhabits, even if the result left him watching extra time from a position of helplessness. That exposure — and the competitive hunger it tends to sharpen — feeds directly into the ambition he has articulated for the club campaign ahead.
Mkhitaryan enters 2026-27 not as a passenger carried by sentiment, but as a player who earned his place in a title-winning side and has now publicly committed to the next chapter. Chivu's Inter will need that continuity; the Armenian intends to provide it.