Manchester City sign £33.8m defender Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens

Manchester City have confirmed the signing of the defender Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens in a deal understood to be worth €40m (£33.8m) plus add-ons. The 20-year-old is the club’s first January signing and City also have a deal in principle to buy the forward Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Khusanov, poised to become the first Uzbeki to play in the Premier League, has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal. Lens are making a huge profit on a centre-back they bought for €100,000 from the Belarusian club Energetik-BGU in July 2023.

City have moved the bolster their squad after an unexpectedly poor first half of the season that has left them 12 points behind the Premier League leaders, Liverpool, who have a game in hand. The 19-year-old Brazilian defender Vitor Reis is also in line to join, for £29.5m from Palmeiras.

Khusanov has 18 caps and was described as “a really exciting signing” by City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain. “For such a young defender, Abdukodir is already very intelligent, as well as being strong, aggressive and extremely quick,” Begiristain said.

Khusanov said: “This squad is full of the best players in the world, and I can’t wait to meet them and play alongside them. And of course Pep Guardiola is one of the greatest coaches ever and I am so excited to learn from him and improve my game even more.”

Crystal Palace are stepping up efforts to sign the highly rated Senegal international El Hadji Malick Diouf from Slavia Prague in an attempt to see off competition from several Premier League clubs, including Liverpool.

Palace, who completed their move for Millwall’s Romain Esse over the weekend for £14.5m, are keen to reinforce their squad further despite easing fears of being dragged into a relegation battle thanks to a five-match unbeaten run. The manager, Oliver Glasner, has prioritised the signing of another left wing-back to provide competition for Tyrick Mitchell, who has started all 22 of Palace’s Premier League games.

Diouf has excelled for Slavia since joining for £2m last January from the Norwegian side Tromsø, who are believed to have a significant sell-on clause for the 20-year-old. He has a contract until 2028 and the Czech club are thought to value him at about £20m. Palace had a £12m offer rejected earlier in the window but are likely to return with a bid of about £16m.

Brentford, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest are also understood to have shown interest in Diouf, who moved to Norway in February 2021 from the Académie Mawade Wade in his homeland after impressing in a trial. Diouf made his international debut last year.

Glasner has admitted he had hoped to add Esse, an England Under 20 forward who cost an initial £12m, to his squad sooner. “To be a little bit critical, it took a little bit too long to get the signing done,” he said. “But it’s better in the middle of the transfer window than at the end.”