Potential Sunderland signing Gael Andonian has a lot to thank Henrikh Mkhitaryan for

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Sunderland are currently taking a look at Gael Andonian to see if he is worthy of a contract at the club. The Armenia international is a free agent after leaving Marseille this summer. Sunderland can therefore still sign the player, despite the transfer window being shut.

Andonian would certainly look like a decent arrival for Sunderland. He would add some added strength to the back-line and can play at both centre-back and left-back when called upon.

He also has a friend already playing in the UK, although he is based in London.

Andonian may represent Armenia, but he was born and raised in Marseille and spoke very little Armenian when he first started representing the Armenian national team.

But Arsenal attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved to be a big help, as he speaks French. Andonian confirmed this in an interview with News.am in 2015.

Mkhitaryan, who swapped Manchester United for Arsenal in an Alexis Sanchez swap worth £35 million in January, has some French history. His late father Hamlet played for French second-tier side ASOA Valence and Henrikh lived in France for six years. His hero growing up was Zinedine Zidane and he even shared a photo of himself in French facepaint after Les Bleus won the World Cup this summer.

So if Sunderland do snap Andonian up after his trial period, he will at least have a friend down in the capital.