Pep Guardiola offers insight into Abdukodir Khusanov’s life at Manchester City since Chelsea debut | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been quizzed on the days that have followed Abdukodir Khusanov’s debut for the club against Chelsea.

The Uzbekistan international defender arrived at the Etihad Stadium with a strong reputation following his time in France at RC Lens, and City felt it worthy to sanction a €40 million fee for the 20-year-old talent.

Defeating competition from the likes of Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Real Madrid, Khusanov became the Premier League’s first-ever footballer from Uzbekistan, and he was thrust straight into the action at the first possibility.

Amid injury concerns throughout the defensive unit, Guardiola issued the Tashkent-born defender with his first start against Chelsea, only to see Khusanov put through a torrid opening five minutes in which he gave away a goal and was cautioned by the referee.

However, the Uzbek starlet would recover strongly from a challenging opening few exchanges against Enzo Maresca’s men and was substituted on 53 minutes receiving a standing ovation from the Etihad Stadium crowd in the process.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Guardiola was asked on how Abdukodir Khusanov has been so far at Manchester City, and particularly after his senior debut for the club against Chelsea last month.

“Good! His training was good, his so attentive, always he’s so focussed and he’s new for everyone. Yeah, good,” Guardiola insisted.

When asked whether the 20-year-old had recovered from the challenge of the meeting with Chelsea in the Premier League, the Manchester City boss explained, “Yeah, of course!

“Do you know how many central defenders make the mistake that Khusanov has done this season, all central defenders? And the defenders that everybody needs at a high, high level, do you know how many?! Quite (a few).

“So I’m not going to blame Khusanov for something, it’s more that I have to blame myself how still we do the mistakes, and the central defenders have to improve. But absolutely not; I didn’t blame publicly and even in the group personally that what happened in the past, I’m not going to do with the players that arrived after just one training session, and with us making an effort because we don’t have players to play against Chelsea – come on. He must be helped.”

Pep Guardiola continued, “I would like to be helped, if I’m Khusanov in the first debut arriving in a new country, in the Premier League, a new team, the language, how many things I’ve never listened to before, and playing against Cole (Palmer), (Nicolas) Jackson and so on – I would like to be helped, honestly.

“And this is what we have to do, and the team has done it. I love the reaction that the players had when that happened, to him immediately.”

Khusanov was left out of the weekend’s action against Arsenal remaining as an unused substitute, but could return to the fold when Manchester City take on Leyton Orient in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday lunchtime.