Liverpool have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Henrikh Mkhitaryan after the midfielder revealed that he plans to "fulfil" his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Armenian international, who scored 25 times last season to top the Ukrainian goalscoring charts, has been linked with a £22m move to Anfield after reports emerged that he was Brendan Rodgers's prime summer target.
However, Mkhitaryan is contracted to Donetsk until the end of the 2015 season and has insisted that he will honour that commitment to his current club.
A statement on his Facebook page read: "I am happy to see that people show keen interest in my career but I would like to ask all not only to refrain from making comments but also to prevent the spread of unverified and false information.
"I am not meddling with these affairs. If have a contract with a club, I just fulfil it."
Liverpool have already recruited Celta Vigo attacker Iago Aspas and Manchester City defender Kolo Toure this summer.
Joe Fish
