Meet Abdukodir Khusanov, the £33m ‘Tank’ Uzbek defender who sprints like an Olympian and is joining Man City from Lens

MANCHESTER CITY are closing successful connected signing Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens.

The Premier League champions person reportedly agreed a £33.6million woody to onshore the youngster this month.

But who is the rising prima acceptable to marque his power to the Etihad - and what benignant of a subordinate are City signing?

First of all, Pep Guardiola is getting a due defender.

Khusanov, 20, is nary originative subordinate who has been shoehorned into playing astatine the back.

He is simply a defender's defender - and seemingly relishes preventing strikers scoring, coming retired successful the 94th percentile for his antiaircraft stats successful Ligue 1 this term.

And helium is simply a carnal specimen of a man: 6ft 1in tall, powerful, strong, diversion and quick. Very quick.

Khusanov clocked a staggering apical velocity of 37km/h - 22.9mph - earlier this season.

To enactment that into context, Usain Bolt averaged 37.58km/h to acceptable the 100m satellite grounds of 9.58 seconds, albeit reaching 43.99km/h during the 2009 race.

In the 2023-24 Premier League season, the 37km/h obstruction was breached conscionable doubly - some by Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven who managed 37.38km/h and 37.23km/h.

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So it's harmless to accidental that Khusanov would adhd a full caller dynamic to City's backmost enactment with his lightning pace.

He capitalises connected his carnal attributes to beryllium beardown successful the aerial and adjacent stronger successful the challenge.

His assertive pressing benignant and emotion of a conflict with a striker means helium is perfectly comfy stepping retired to compression opponents oregon intercept arsenic good arsenic successful one-v-one situations, drafting comparisons to Ruben Dias.

He is not dirty, lone picking up 2 yellowish cards this season, but does emotion a last-ditch descent tackle and did spot reddish for a studs-up situation connected PSG's Achraf Hakimi successful November.

His Lens manager Will Still summed it up succinctly: "Kodir is simply a tank."

Interestingly, though, Khusanov is not your emblematic Guardiola centre-back due to the fact that helium is not the champion with the shot astatine his feet.

He averages less touches, passes and guardant carries than his centre-back partners Kevin Danso and Facundo Medina - albeit playing successful the mediate of a backmost 3 - and surely has country to turn successful his scope of passing.

This volition beryllium peculiarly important erstwhile lining up successful a Guardiola squad that dominates possession.

It has been a staggering and accelerated emergence for Khusanov arsenic helium finds himself connected the brink of his transportation to England.

The Uzbekistan planetary and Olympian - who would go the archetypal Uzbek to play successful the Premier League - near his homeland aged 18 to articulation Belarusian nine Energetik-BGU successful 2022.

Less than 18 months later, helium signed for Lens successful July 2023 for £84,000 - and is present acceptable to determination connected for 400 TIMES that figure, having lone established himself arsenic a first-team regular starter this season.

But City fans' excitement volition beryllium curbed by 2 important factors.

Khusanov is not precise experienced.

The youngster - who ironically has lone celebrated 5 birthdays arsenic helium was calved connected February 29, 2004 - went into 2025 with inactive lone 24 Ligue 1 appearances to his name.

He has 2 successful the Champions League from past season's radical stages, including a 6-0 thrashing by Arsenal.

The different flimsy country for interest is verbally.

Khusanov has been described arsenic a precise quiescent idiosyncratic and adhd successful the further complications of the connection obstruction upon arriving successful England and that could mean helium takes clip to settle.

But if struggling Guardiola is truthful keen to walk large currency and discarded nary clip successful bringing him in, helium indispensable beryllium assured helium tin get the champion retired of Abdukodir Khusanov arsenic City's adjacent antiaircraft stalwart.