- 9 hours ago
CONFIRMED: Man Utd rejected $50 A WEEK star signed for €40m by City
Robin Bairner
- 23 Jan 2025 13:45 GMT
- 5 min read
Abdukodir Khusanov has signed for Manchester City on a €40 million deal from Ligue 1 side Lens, but he could have been playing across the city for Manchester United had fate decided differently.
Khusanov was a virtual unknown when playing for Uzbekistan at the U20 World Cup in 2023 when he caught the eye of Lens and was snapped up for just €100,000 from Energetik Minsk.
The interest of a Man Utd scout was piqued yet the Old Trafford club were denied the opportunity to land the bargain signing of a promising young talent who has since moved for 400 times the figure he was bought for.
STATS
Abdukodir Khusanov
D (CR)
Man City
Abdukodir Khusanov
D (CR)
Man City
Gairat Khasbiullin told Russian outlet Championat: “The first interested club was Manchester United. In May 2023, United scout Nicolas Cinalli was in Argentina for the U20 World Cup.
“After the second match of Uzbekistan, he found my contact and wanted to meet me. What did he tell me? That Khusanov has the 'Manchester United DNA.' That's when I realised he would end up at a big club.
“Why didn't it work with Manchester United? The scout made a detailed report, but head coach Ten Hag said he was NOT quite ready to help the team at that time.
“We recently corresponded with this Manchester United scout. He congratulated us on his transfer to City but regretted that the player did not end up at United.”
Khusanov’s humble beginnings
Further underlining the humble beginnings of Khusanov, his agent revealed his wages while still playing with Energetik in Belarus.
Asked if it is accurate that his salary was just $100-200 (€96-192) per month, Khasbiullin replied: “That’s right. Khusanov had a similar salary. Sometimes I had to put in my own money to cover household expenses because even with a $50 bonus, it's hard to survive there.”
Khusanov’s contract at City will be significantly bigger while Man Utd will be left frustrated at missing out on one of the bargains of the century.
