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Abdukodir Khusanov was born on 29 February and he is, without a doubt, a rarity. In four years the defender has gone from being discarded in his home country of Uzbekistan to play for a small club in Belarus before, this month, agreeing to join Manchester City from Lens in a £33.5m deal. Pending a medical, he will become the first Uzbek to play in the Premier League but – because of his success – perhaps not the last.
The nation has been captivated by Khusanov’s rise and delighted that he is now joining the Premier League champions. It is a huge source of pride. “Abdukodir means almighty in the Uzbek language, and it suits him,” says the Championat.asia editor Narzulla Saidullaev. “He is also nicknamed “the train” here because of his raw power and has become the most famous person in the country. Even people who know nothing about football talk about him. Only two Uzbek footballers have played in major European leagues before – both in Italy. Ilyas Zeytullaev at the beginning of the century and Eldor Shomurodov at Roma at the moment. Now we have a star in England and it is a very big story. Many millions of Uzbeks are going to watch Khusanov’s matches.”
Khusanov’s incredible journey started at the Bunyodkor academy in Tashkent as their youth coach Sergey Chigodaev tells the Guardian: “Abdukodir joined our club aged seven or eight. He was born in 2004, but we put him in the team of boys born in 2002 because of how good he was. He was quick and agile but a bit short and slender. He was shy and never started any conversations himself. He was the opposite of quiet on the pitch though: he is a fighter who wasn’t afraid of playing against kids bigger and stronger than him.”
Young Khusanov was extremely versatile, playing at right-back, as a striker as well as in central midfield, but there were doubts about his potential. Eventually, when Khusanov was 17, the Bunyodkor management decided that he was not strong enough and only gave him a place with the reserves in the third division. Khusanov and his father Hukmat Hoshimov, a former midfielder himself with 13 caps for Uzbekistan, did not agree with the club’s decision and started to look for alternatives.
And that is how the option of joining Energetik-BGU in Belarus came up. Hosimov was in touch with agents who specialise in transferring players from former Soviet republics in Asia to the small club in Minsk. Khusanov became one of those imports and arrived to Belarus without fanfare.
“Energetik are a tiny club with very few supporters,” the journalist Taras Shchyry, who works for the Onliner news website, says. “Their stadium only has 1,500 seats, and they play on an artificial pitch. People are used to various players from Asia arriving there and there is no wider public interest in them. Nobody paid attention to Khusanov when he arrived in 2021.”
To make matters more complicated for Khusanov he could not sign a professional contract until he was 18 in Belarus so had to wait for his debut for a whole year, only taking part in training. His salary was meagre, but he did not mind. “Money was irrelevant to us. We only cared about Abdukodir’s professional development,” Khusanov’s agent, Gairat Khasbiullin, says.
Once 18, Khusanov joined the first team and immediately became a leader on the pitch, coontributing heavily to Energetik-BGU finishing second in the league in 2022, which was considered a big surprise. “We called them the Belarusian Leicester,” Shchyry says. Khusanov stood out in defence, distributing the ball superbly and even taking free-kicks because of his accuracy and power from distance.
The coach at the time, Pavel Radnyonak, could already see what was coming. “Khusanov’s quality was obvious from the moment he joined,” he says. “He has a unique combination of immense natural talent and exemplary character. He had to be nurtured correctly, of course, and the manager, Anatoliy Yurevich, came up with a two-year individual programme to develop Abdukodir, based on his specific qualities. We decided that centre-back would be his best position and that was a major success. Khusanov is very dedicated, hard working, respectful and eager to learn. On the pitch, he is fearless.”
Khusanov’s success in Belarus went largely unnoticed in his homeland and he was initially left out of the Under-20 squad that were due to play in the Asian Cup in Uzbekistan in March 2023. However, he received a late call-up and played every minute of a historic campaign as Uzbekistan were crowned champions. They conceded just one goal in six matches.
Timur Kapadze, the Uzbekistan Under-23s national team coach who worked with Khusanov later on, says: “Abdukodir is very strong physically and very strong in the tackle. He is also fast, reads the game well and technically sound. Another great aspect is that he is very calm on the pitch. Off the pitch he is a well mannered individual and quiet person and it is a pleasure to work with him.”
The triumph enabled Uzbekistan to qualify for the Under-20 World Cup that took place in Argentina in May 2023 and that is where Khusanov’s talents were showcased in front of a wider audience. Lens’ scouting manager, Baptiste Favier, was one of those who watched Khusanov in Uzbekistan’s opening fixture against Argentina. “He amazed me. It was an unexpected discovery and I decided to watch him in three more matches,” Favier told L’Équipe recently.
Lens felt they had to act and secured Khusanov’s signing for a mere €100,000 (£84,000) in July 2023. Lens were not the only interested team but their proposal was the most attractive. Khusanov, who had previously turned down opportunities to move to the Russian league, was promised immediate playing time in Ligue 1. “We chose Lens because they offered a clear path forward and that turned out to be the right decision. We are very grateful to them,” Khasbiullin says.
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Khusanov did not speak French or English when he joined Lens but made an instant impression. “I found him very sure of himself on the pitch,” says La Voix du Nord journalist Philippe Guilbard. “He just never panicked. In his second game for Lens he started in the feisty derby against Lille and showed great character in his duels with their Canadian star Jonathan David. He just brought fans in the stadium to their feet.”
It was not easy for Khusanov to break into the team. During the 2023-24 season Lens had an established trio of centre-backs in Jonathan Gradit on the right, Kevin Danso in the middle and Facundo Medina on the left but the Uzbek showed what he could do by filling in for any of them, effortlessly performing in all three positions, impressing his teammates.
“If Khusanov came from a top league, he would have cost €100m,” the Austria international Danso said. The midfielder Angelo Fulgini added: “He is a modern defender that every team dreams of having. The former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba said he was a “monster”, but in a good way. “He really scares me with what he is capable of. He has shaken up the hierarchy in our defence. He is destined for a great future.”
He was right and now Khusanov is going to work under Pep Guardiola. Lens are sad to see him go but happy with the money received for him and are very proud to have contributed to his development – so much so that they have kept some of his shirts. “They know those shirts will become collector’s items,” Guilbard says. In further good news Abdukodir’s younger brother – the striker Abdurahim – is coming through the Lens academy.
The overriding belief is that the elder Khusanov will become a star at City. “Abdukodir was amazing every time he played for Lens and he should be ready to make the next step, even if it’s quite big. He has always aimed high,” another La Voix du Nord journalist, Sandrine Arrestier, says.
The journey is entering the next step. Don’t expect Khusanov to talk too much, but do expect him to perform.
