We look at the journey so far of a young player Manchester City fans have very much taken to their hearts featuring never before published family photos and memories from those who know him best...
ive days. That’s how long Abdukodir Khusanov had been a Manchester City player when he was given his debut against Chelsea.
Still aged 20, his rapid promotion into the senior team was partly due to a defensive crisis that left Pep Guardiola with few options other than to pitch a youngster who had played just 31 top level club matches who could speak little or no English.
Less than three minutes into his debut, a misplaced header back to Ederson allowed Nicolas Jackson to nip in, cross to Noni Madueke and give Chelsea a 1-0 lead.
Barely a minute later, the first Uzbek to ever play a Premier League match mistimed a tackle and was shown a yellow card.
There can’t have been a genuine football fan watching the events unfold who didn’t feel for Khusanov after those traumatic first few minutes in English football.
The eyes of millions of people around the world were on the youngster as the cameras zoomed in on him, and if he’d have wanted the pitch to open up and swallow him at that moment, who could have blamed him?
It could have got worse, but it didn’t. Helped by his team-mates, the City fans and his manager, he had enough composure to see out the remainder of the half with his confidence steadily growing and on 54 minutes, his debut ended with loud applause as he was replaced by John Stones.
If the City fans needed to know anything about the young defender from Tashkent, it was that he clearly had guts by the bucketload.
He was an unused sub a week later in the defeat at Arsenal, and a second-half sub against Leyton Orient a week after that, scoring his first City goal 11 minutes after coming on and later making a full-blooded challenge in front of the travelling fans that had them up on their feet yelling their approval.
Fast forward five weeks and Khusanov deservedly was voted City’s Etihad Player of the Month after a string of stellar performances that had seen him up against the likes of Mo Salah, Alexander Isak, Son Heung-min and Chris Wood – and more than hold his own.
It’s been an incredible start to his life in sly blue and he already has a legion of admirers among the City fans who have taken to this Uzbek warrior to their hearts.
It’s early days, of course, and he will take time to fully understand what is expected of him and develop his game, but there is a growing feeling that the Blues may have discovered an uncut diamond in Abdukodir Khusanov – or Kodir as he prefers to be called. And this was his journey to the Etihad…
If the City fans needed to know anything about the young defender from Tashkent, it was that he clearly had guts by the bucketload.
An emerging, but little-known talent...
It’s fair to say few people knew very much about Abdukodir Khusanov before his January 2025 move to City.
YouTube comes into its own when clubs are linked with players from overseas, with users searching for anything and everything they can find from the video clips available.
Anyone who found Khusanov footage will have seen a tough tackling, totally committed defender with electric pace. In simple terms, a defender who genuinely loves to defend.
But with so little senior experience and the fact he was coming from a nation few knew much of, the links to Manchester City seemed possible but maybe unlikely – unless the Club were looking to sign a player for the future rather than the present, of course?
So young and from a nation who were only just emerging on the football map, could the Uzbekistan international really be on his way to the defending Premier League champions?
To find out about Abdukodir’s progress, we have to go back to where it all began, in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent and the leap year 2004 birth of our future No.45…
'Football is in his blood ...'
Abdukodir Khusanov is the son of former Uzbekistan national team player Khikmatdjon Khoshimov, and some may wonder why Abdukodir doesn’t bear his father’s surname.
Kodir as a baby
The answer is Uzbek tradition.
Fathers can give their children surnames in honour of their grandfather. Abdukodir’s grandfather was called Khusan, so his father gave him the surname Khusanov, and this is a tradition that remains popular in Uzbekistan to this day.
With dad Khikmatdjon Khoshimov
Abdukodir took his first steps in football at the Bunyodkor Academy, considered one of the best in the country. Outside of Uzbekistan, Bunyodkor is best known because Brazil legend Rivaldo played for the club in 2008-2010, scoring 42 goals in 72 starts.
“Khusanov came to Bunyodkor when he was seven years-old,” says Sergey Chigodaev, Abdukodir's first coach.
“Even then, he had excellent speed - he could outrun even those who were one or two years older than him. Speed is very important in football, because it is natural and either there is speed, or there is not. Speed is difficult to improve through training.”
Kodir with dad and younger brother Abdurahim Khusanov.
Kodir would play for several years with players who were older than him. He played for the teams of 2002-2003, despite being born on February 29, 2004. Due to this - according to Chigodaev - Kodir quickly toughened up, despite his slight physical build. He had no other choice, always being the youngest in the team.
The young prince...
“Even in childhood it was obvious that Abdukodir had great talent,” continues Chigodaev.
“But talent needs to be properly developed. It is impossible to achieve success in football only through talent. Khusanov has talent, hard work, discipline, and the right upbringing. Everything I told him to do on the field, he did without question.
“Abdukodir never argued, he was always very modest. At the same time, he went out on the field and played in such a way that sparks flew from under his feet! He never gave in to anyone, even to those who were older than him.
Kodir as a ball boy...
“Throughout, Abdukodir remained modest and well-mannered in communication. The fact that he played for Lens and now plays for Manchester City has not changed him at all.”
"A fast-emerging prospect..."
At the age of 17, Khusanov went to Belarus, to the Energetik-BGU club. There, he only trained and played friendly games for one year as he waited for his 18th birthday, and in March 2022, he made his debut for the “Students” (the nickname of Energetik-BGU.
Kodir in 2019
Abdukodir immediately became a key player for the team and in his first season, he played 27 out of 30 matches, almost always being named in starting line-up and playing the full match. In addition, he added three goals and four assists - not bad statistics for a central defender.
He also took penalties and scored from free kicks.
In the summer of 2022, Khusanov received a call-up to the Uzbekistan U20 national team. Before that, he had played only for the Uzbekistan U17s and in March 2023, Khusanov became one of the leaders of the Uzbekistan youth team at the home FIFA U20 Asian Cup.
Uzbek joy after winning the U20 Asian Cup
He played all the matches and helped the team win the tournament and, significantly, it all happened at the home stadium of Bunyodkor, the club where he’d first cut his teeth in senior football. Two months later, Khusanov, together with the Uzbekistan U20 team, went to the FIFA World Youth Championship.
In the career of almost every top footballer, there is the occasional lucky break, and Khusanov is no exception. The FIFA U20 World Cup was originally supposed to be held in Indonesia, but the host country announced it was boycotting the event shortly before it was due to start. As a result, the FIFA World Youth Championship was moved to Argentina with Uzbekistan drawn into a group which included the new hosts.
An Uzbeki star is born...
Scouts from European clubs came to watch players from the host nation such as Maximo Perrone, Valentin Carboni and Matias Soule, but it was the teenage Uzbek defender by the name of Abdukodir Khusanov who caught the eye in a 2-1 loss for the Uzbeks.
A scout from French club Lens was certainly impressed, as was a representative from Manchester United and several other European clubs.
In fact, a Premier League scout sought out Khusanov’s agent Gairat Khasbiullin to declare the young defender was the ideal fit for their team, but a move failed to materialise.
French lessons...
A few weeks after the completion of the World U20s Championships, Abdukodir Khusanov moved to Lens who proudly stated they had purchased “an unbridled talent from Asia,” at his unveiling. The transfer fee was 100,000 euros, a relatively small outlay that would prove a wise and profitable one for the Ligue 1 side.
Life through a Lens - Kodir signs for the Ligue 1 club
“We carefully studied Khusanov before the transfer,” says Lens head coach Franck Haise. “I was surprised that he looked and played as if he is not 19, but 25 years old. He acts like a ready-made, adult player. We also saw what he is capable of in training. He surprised us with his technical ability and physical power. We have other young players, but Khusanov was always distinguished by his calmness.”
It was a whirlwind time for the then-19 year-old.
In the summer of 2023, Abdukodir received his first call-up to the Uzbekistan national team. After his debut against Oman, he almost immediately cemented his place in the starting line-up and has so far won 18 caps for his nation.
At Lens, Kodir played 15 matches in his first season. He was not a regular starter, but was confident and assured when he did feature, and the impressed French sports journalists included him several times in the Ligue 1 Team of the Week as published in L'Equipe.
In the summer of 2024, Khusanov became an important member of the Lens starting XI and again, a sequence of events went his way. Austrian defender Kevin Danso was poised to move to Roma, but the transfer fell through due to health issues at the time. As a result, Danso returned to Lens but could not play because he was undergoing treatment. Khusanov was still relatively inexperienced, but he had the confidence of his coach – and he wouldn’t disappoint.
In October 2024, Khusanov was recognised as the best young player of Ligue 1. And based on the results of the first part of the 2024/2025 season, he was included in the Ligue 1 team of the season so far, after just 16 matches and one assist for Lens.
And by that point, he was firmly in the sights of Manchester City who would head off an army of other interested clubs by moving swiftly in the January 2025 transfer window in what is already looking an incredibly shrewd piece of business.
Khusanov’s path is different from many players who find their way to the Premier League. As the first Uzbek to play in the Premier League, he has a proud nation watching and willing his every move and if there are more like Kodir back in his homeland, he could be the first of many.
A warrior on the field, quiet and humble off it, City fans could be witnessing the start of a wonderful career.
Feature: David Clayton
Manchester City would like to thank the family of Abdukodir Khusanov for their wonderful assistance. Family photos copyright Khusanov family.
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