Arsenal have confirmed that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling to Baku for the Europa League final to play Chelsea.

The Armenian will not travel over security concerns due to the current disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Arsenal released the following statement on their official website.

The club wrote: "We are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad for our Uefa Europa League final against Chelsea.

"We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party.

"We have written to Uefa expressing our deep concerns about this situation. Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.

"We’re also very sad that a player will miss out on a major European final in circumstances such as this, as it is something that comes along very rarely in a footballer’s career.

"Micki will continue to be part of our preparations until we depart for Baku at the weekend."

UEFA's decision to host the final in Baku has raised a lot of issues, most notably with both Arsenal and Chelsea only being handed 6000 tickets each - the stadium holds 68,000.

Then there is the issue of getting to the Azerbaijani capital, with flights exceeding £1000.

But the fact a player cannot safely attend his club's biggest game of the season is downright disgraceful.

UEFA have not covered themselves in glory one bit...