Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has thanked Jurgen Klopp for the advice that helped him through a tough start to his Old Trafford career, BBC Sport reports.

Earlier this season, Mkhitaryan, 28, did not play in the league for 10 weeks and remembered Klopp's previous advice.

"I am thankful to Klopp. He worked on my personality and the psychological part," he told BBC's Football Focus.

The Armenian spent two seasons working under Klopp in Germany before the coach quit, later taking over at Liverpool in October 2015.

"At Dortmund, I was very stressed after a few games when we were playing really bad," added Mkhitaryan, who has scored five times this season.

"Klopp showed me the way. He supported me and told me I had to keep my head up because good things were coming. He helped me to become a player."

However, he says Klopp is a different person to United manager Jose Mourinho.

"They are both very friendly and very good at their jobs but the way they work is different.

"It is the first year under Jose's management and we are working very hard. He tells us what he wants to see. Of course, it is not very easy when you have a new manager.

"You have to adapt to him and the team, the training sessions and the games. At the beginning we had a little bit of difficulties but then we started winning in November."

Also, Mkhitaryan said he had to carry out a period of national service before he was allowed to move abroad, initially to Ukraine's Metalurh Donetsk, in 2009.

"It was very hard growing up in Armenia because at that time we had a lot of problems with our neighbours and we had war, so it was a bad situation," said Mkhitaryan.

"Before I could leave and be a football player I had to go to the military. I did that when I was 20. After that I was allowed to change my club."