It’s set to be a busy January transfer window for Manchester City.
In the summer, the four-in-a-row Premier League champions recorded around £126m of profit, signing Savinho from within the City Football Group for a reported £30m, but recorded massive profit thanks to the sales of Julián Álvarez (£81.5m), João Cancelo (£21m), Liam Delap (£20m), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£20m) and others.
Thus, Pep Guardiola‘s side should be able to spend big this month, should they so choose.
Adding defensive reinforcements will surely be a priority, considering Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias, Nathan Aké, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Joško Gvardiol have all intermittently missed matches due to various injuries so far.
Alongside 20-year-old Rico Lewis, the Sky Blues have just seven defenders for four positions, so there’s certainly space in the squad for another defender, perhaps possibly two, to arrive in January.
Man City looking to sign young defender
According to a report by Rob Dawson of ESPN, Manchester City are ‘in talks’ with Lens as they aim to sign Abdukodir Khusanov.
Furthermore, Steve Pearson of TEAMtalk believes the Ligue 1 club value their centre-back at around £25m, although this figure is unclear, with Luke Entwistle of Get French Football News believing his price tag to be €40m (around £33m).
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In an interview with DAZN France on Sunday, prior to Lens’ Ligue 1 fixture against Toulouse at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, general manager Pierre Dréossi confirmed Khusanov “will leave” the club this month, after the defender was left out of les Sang et Or’s matchday squad for their first game of 2025.
So who is Khusanov, and why do Manchester City believe him to be the man to fix their defensive issues?
How Abdukodir Khusanov could boost Man City’s defensive options
The 20-year-old Uzbek international began his senior career with Enerhetyk-BDU Minsk in Belarus, before joining Lens for a miserly €100,000 in July 2023, and what an exceptional piece of business and scouting that has proven to be.
To date, he’s made 31 appearances for the French side, starting each of their last 14 matches that he was available for, sitting out two due to suspension, prior to Sunday’s loss at the hands of Toulouse, left out by English manager Will Still.
At international level too, he’s quickly established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet for Uzbekistan, starting all three matches at last summer’s Olympics, while the White Wolves are currently in a strong position in World Cup qualifying, on course to make it for the very first time.
Should he join, Khusanov would become the first player from Uzbekistan to feature in the Premier League, the 125th different nation to be represented.
The young defender’s performances have been earning rave reviews, labelled as a “future legend” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, so should he make the move to Manchester, supporters should be excited about what they’re set to see.
Of course, Man City already have many high-quality, expensively assembled centre-backs in their squad, so how does Khusanov compare to his, potential, future teammates?
|
Khusanov vs Man City centre-backs in 24/25 |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Statistic |
Khusanov |
Gvardiol |
Dias |
Akanji |
Stones |
Aké |
|
Appearances |
13 |
25 |
17 |
21 |
10 |
10 |
|
Minutes |
975 |
2,116 |
1,315 |
1,785 |
494 |
653 |
|
Pass completion % |
88.1% |
92% |
94.3% |
94.1% |
93.5% |
93.6% |
|
Tackles |
15 |
37 |
11 |
17 |
7 |
9 |
|
Blocks |
17 |
31 |
11 |
15 |
3 |
7 |
|
Interceptions |
26 |
25 |
15 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
|
Clearances |
57 |
63 |
37 |
48 |
12 |
17 |
|
Aerial duals won % |
69.2% |
54.5% |
63.4% |
44.7% |
73.3% |
55.6% |
As emphasised in the table above, Khusanov faces stiff competition if he’s to establish himself as a regular starter at Manchester City, but he certainly boasts the attributes to succeed.
His pass completion %, while a little lower, is comparable, while, of the six players analysed, he ranks third for tackles, second for blocks and top for interceptions.
Gvardiol, the second-most expensive defender of all-time, sits top for more metrics than anybody else, and is Man City’s best-performing defender this season, according to Sofascore.
That said, Khusanov shares many of the same attributes, notably in his ability to play out from the back, underlining that he would more than likely be a success should he join the Premier League champions.
Like Gvardiol, who was only one year older when he moved to Eithad, it could also signal the arrival of one of the best young defenders in the game. That certainly bodes well for the Citizens.
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