On Monday evening, Abdukodir Khusanov made history, in becoming the first Uzbek player to sign for a Premier League club, following his big money move to champions Manchester City.
His transfer marks a truly remarkable rise for the 20-year-old centre back, a journey that has catapulted him from plying his trade in the top flight of Belarus, to arguably the pinnacle of world club football within 18 short months.
The move propels his undisputed talent onto the biggest stage of all, and with it the global realisation of Uzbek football; a nation experiencing its own meteoric growth, which they hope to see peak with qualification for the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
The bull, the shield, the beast
Despite only a three-year professional career to date, Khusanov has already amassed an impressive array of nicknames, all of which reveal his indomitable style of play and presence on the pitch.
“I was surprised that he played like a 25-year-old player, not a 19-year-old. He instantly surprised us with his technique and physicality,” former Lens coach Frank Eze commented after his debut in France.
His physical capability has always been eye-catching from an early age; the stature to mix it with strikers nearly double his age, the athleticism and pace to make up ground on any quick counter, and a reassuring aerial presence reminiscent of a player at the peak of their career, not at the start of it.
Despite his age, Khusanov himself would dispute his lack of experience. The youngest Uzbek player to play in the UEFA Champions League when he made his debut at the Emirates against Arsenal last year, his move to France with Lens as a teenager quickly morphed from merely being a rotation option to an integral figure in new coach Will Still’s imposing defence (only league leaders PSG have conceded less than Khusanov’s Lens).
“Khusanov is a real monster. What he does on the field, sometimes it scares me. Don’t forget that he’s only 20-years-old. I don’t think Abdukhodir will last long at Lens,” said former Lens and France goalkeeper Brice Samba.
While his sheer presence dominated the column inches on the run up to his headline grabbing move, his reading of the game will potentially be the attribute he’ll grow to become best known for. While critics have questioned his sometimes overtly physical approach, and his occasional over-enthusiasm in the tackle, his ability to spot danger quickly, even at this early age, marks him out as one of the most promising defenders world football.
“The unknown Uzbek”
An early French newspaper headline, written in bewilderment after his first successful foray in Northern France came from nowhere. Yet, for most of the world, Uzbekistan remains an unknown, as a country, let alone for its football.
Uzbekistan’s lack of profile in Europe could well have seen Khusanov still sitting at home, out of the global scouting glare, in the inconspicuous surrounds of Central Asian football. By chance, he made his escape early before his professional career had even begun.
Energetik-BGU Minsk, an innovative, but erratic side bouncing between the top two tiers of Belarusian football had stumbled on the untapped market of Uzbekistan a few years prior; they would become Khusanov’s unconventional passage to recognition.
Ever since 2020, they have recruited and profited from promising Uzbek talent, picking them up on the cheap, on short-term contracts before making a healthy profit . But while their ceiling was once thought to be the flash-in-the-pan talents of Jasurbek Yakshiboev, once a Champions League goalscorer at the Bernabeu, a talent such as Khusanov was another level altogether.
During his young development at Tashkent giants Bunyodkor, a previous employer of Bazilian legend Rivaldo, where he’d been since he was six-years-old, Khusanov became growingly frustrated at a lack of opportunities to transition into the senior squad, and gambled on going it alone in Europe as a free agent.
Despite being ineligible to play in the Belarusian Premier League until his 18th birthday, he made an instant impression whilst training with his new suitors, under the tutelage of old school, high intensity coach Anatoliy Yurevich, an influence Khusanov points to as a formative figure in his emergence.
“Because of my age, I couldn’t play in the Belarusian championship, and I only trained for the first team for about a year,” Khusanov said at the time.
“I participated in friendlies and bilateral matches, but I worked on an equal footing with everyone. That’s why, when I turned 18, I was ready to play at the senior level. It was not easy for me. Not everyone can handle the training load, and some people leave. But whoever endures it and stays will become a completely different player.”
Another key catalyst behind his development has been his father, Khikmat Khoshimov, a well-known former journeyman of Uzbek football, turned media commentator. Despite his father’s moderate fame inside the country, the Uzbek press speculation as to whether Abdukhodir could emulate his modest legacy looks rather shortsighted in retrospect.
“When I saw Khusanov (at 18-years-old), it was just a “bomb.” He was that good, he just added physicality (in two years). Even at the age of 16 however, it was clear that he would go far,” said former Bunyodkor and Shakhtar-Soligorsk coach Sergey Lushchan.
A White Wolf on the global stage
The prominence of his transfer to the North-West of England this week marks another step towards international maturity for football in Uzbekistan as a whole.
Continental champions at U20 and U23 level, featuring at underage World Cups and the Olympic Games over the last few years, Khusanov, alongside a brimming generation of exuberant talent, are about to put Uzbekistan, as a country, on the map on the Road to USA in 2026.
Having been drawn into the senior setup alongside fellow starlet Abbosbek Fayzullaev, tipped for his own big money move to a major European league this year, Khusanov has quickly become a stable part of Srecko Katanec’s senior squad.
A modest man, sometimes criticised for a lack of social skills off the pitch, Khusanov’s leadership on it has never been in doubt, leading in his actions on and off the ball, an undisputed commander and national team captain in the making.
As the young centre back settles into his new surroundings, Pep Guardiola receives a player with all the raw abilities and the willingness to learn to become a true asset for a club looking to rebuild during a transitional domestic season.
If Khusanov’s ability can be harnessed quickly, who knows, he may be able to rise to exceed expectations once again, a trait he regularly delivers on.
