Dortmund win race for Shakhtar's Mkhitaryan

Borussia Dortmund have announced the capture of FC Shakhtar Donetsk forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

A reported fee of €25m has been agreed with the Ukrainian champions, with the 24-year-old Armenia captain expected to put pen to paper on a four-year deal. "Borussia Dortmund and the player have reached a general agreement on the financial conditions for a contract ending on 30 June 2017. Details have to be worked out," the club said in a statement.

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke and sporting director Michael Zorc travelled to Ukraine last week to thrash out the deal for the man who will fill the boots of Mario Götze, after his move to FC Bayern München.

Having begun his career at FC Pyunik in his homeland, Mkhitaryan left for FC Metalurh Donetsk in 2009 and within 12 months he had crossed the city to join Shakhtar. There he won three successive domestic league and cup doubles, and scored 25 times in 29 Ukrainian Premier League games in 2012/13.

The playmaker also played in every game of the club's run to the UEFA Champions League round of 16, scoring twice, before they were knocked out by his new employers. Mkhitaryan joins Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sokratis Papastathopoulos as Dortmund's major signings this summer, and the club have confirmed that their €50m transfer kitty is all but exhausted.