Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has hinted Henrikh Mkhitaryan could be in line for a sensational return when the Red Devils travel to Championship side Bristol City for a Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night.

He (Mkhitaryan) can [be back),” Mourinho said as he added, “I am making a few changes for the match, but not many because Bristol City are one of the best teams in the Championship”.

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Mkhitaryan, who signed from Borussia Dortmund last season, has not been a part of Mourinho’s matchday squads for the past few games.

The mercurial Armenian’s United career didn’t take off as planned but a strong end to the 2016-17 season sparked hopes that he could rekindle the form that had made him one of the best in the Bundesliga.

And after a blistering start to the current season, the Armenian looked settled in Mourinho’s setup, but his form tailed off sharply soon after and the 28-year-old looked like a shadow of his past self in recent months. And last week Mourinho stated that fringe players could be sold, prompting speculation that Mkhitaryan was on his way back to the Bundesliga with Dortmund reportedly interested.

The Armenian, who is capable of playing as a winger or as a central attacking midfielder, last scored for United in a UEFA Champions League game on September 27.

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Mkhitaryan hasn’t started since United’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea on November 5 and his last appearance for the Red Devils came on November 25, when he played for 19 minutes against Brighton in a Premier League tie.

“For me now, the Championship is not the Championship of five or 10 years ago. The Championship is now high-quality teams with lots of players that could be playing in the Premier League easily. So we need to take the game really seriously. I am going to make a few changes and it is possible Micki is involved.”

Mourinho has repeatedly stated the player is not out favour but due to the immense competition for places at United, is unable to feature and he stressed on the same fact again: “At the moment, we are playing (Juan) Mata, (Marcus) Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard or (Anthony) Martial and (Romelu) Lukaku.

“So, on the bench, we have (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic and one of the other ones, Martial or Rashford. So there is no space for everyone because you need balance on the bench too.”