I'm not saying he was absolutely atrocious in pre-season, simply that his performances were no better then than they have been in competitive games. Also i'm not disputing that you've seen him have good games, or saying he's an absolutely terrible player. The fact is though, not once in an Everton shirt has he looked anything more than OK. His 'quick thinking' in Ruzomberok saw him play a simple 10 yard pass into acres of space. It was nicely done don't get me wrong, but not exactly worthy of a highlight reel. You can float around doing nothing for 89 minutes if your one spark sees you ping one in the top corner from 30 yards, but if the sum of your contribution is going to be a well executed piece of simple football you're not going to stay in the team long - that's why he hasn't.
Using the Mkhitaryan example as a 'proper method' doesn't really work for many reasons. Firstly, there are countless players who have come to the PL and hit the ground running, so just isolating one player who didn't and saying 'that's how you deal with it' is incredibly selective and therefore an unsound basis for your conclusion. Secondly, that's not quite what happened with him anyway - he played in their first few games before getting injured and then couldn't get his place back until about December. Thirdly, and most importantly, you want us to 'ignore this season'. Your example of showing how you can help a player settle properly hinges on us ignoring the fact that he hasn't actually settled at all! 18 months after signing, Mkhitaryan has completed 90 minutes just 3 times in the Premier League, has only 5 goals and 6 assists, and is reportedly on the verge of being offloaded.
