20-year-old Uzbekistan national team defender Abdukodir Khusanov is about to complete his transfer to Manchester City. The transfer fee is expected to make up €40 million plus bonuses. The 20-year-old player is set to sign a contract with the English champions until 2029, with an option to extend it for another 12 months.
Gazeta.uz interviewed Abdukodir Khusanov in the summer of 2024 during the filming of a documentary about the Olympic foottball team of Uzbekistan. Here is an excerpt from that conversation.
Video (in Uzbek)
“My father is my first teacher”
My father [Utkir Khoshimov] was a footballer. That’s why everyone in our family, including my cousins, older brother and even all our relatives, attended football training. I was interested, too. At the age of 5, I started training with Toshkuch club. Then my uncle took me to Bunyodkor. My father said at the time, “I won’t interfere. If people recognize me, unnecessary talk may start”. So, he never accompanied me.
At Bunyodkor academy, I gradually began training with the players born in 2002 (Khusanov was born in 2004 — ed.). It was after joining Bunyodkor that I set my goal: “When I grow up, I will become a footballer”. No one in the family opposed this decision; on the contrary, everyone always supported me. Even my grandfather and grandmother would come to watch my matches.
At first, I tried playing in every position, including as a forward. Later, watching my father play, I became interested in defense. We often attended his matches, and I really enjoyed how he played. Even when my father was just watching football, I would sit beside him and learn — he would show and explain how to act in different situations, what distance to keep and how to make the right decisions at key moments. He would even get up and demonstrate everything himself.
My father was my first teacher. His praise is my greatest motivation. But he doesn’t praise me too often — probably to prevent arrogance. Instead, he points out my mistakes so that I can improve. And that’s enough for me — to have my father notice my mistakes.
I believe you can learn even from a small child. When watching football, if a player does a new trick, you say to yourself, “Oh, I should try that!” And if you see clumsy movements, you immediately conclude, “In such situations, I should act differently”.
Playing in Belarus
While at Bunyodkor’s academy, I was invited to train with the reserve team and even got some playing time. At that time, many of Bunyodkor’s central defenders were injured. If I had played a bit more, I could have made it to the main squad. At 16, I dreamed of playing for Bunyodkor’s first team. But suddenly, the management decided that I “wasn't ready” and moved me to the youth team under 18 years old.
After that, with the help of agents, I moved to Belarus. Even in the hardest times, I never considered quitting football. The real difficulties of football life I experienced in Belarus: harsh winters, heavy snow, freezing temperatures and life far from home. The snow was so deep that my friend Amirbek Bakaev, who came to Belarus with me, and I would shovel the field instead of doing morning warm-ups.
Then we would go inside, change, and work out in the gym. We didn’t even go home — we stayed in the locker room, slept for an hour and then went straight to evening training. We ate there too, snacking on whatever we could find. On top of that, when friendly matches finally started and I had the chance to play, I suffered a serious injury and had to wear a cast for two to three months.
I had just turned 17 and was supposed to play for Energetik-BGU club. However, FIFA didn’t grant permission because I wasn’t 18 yet. My family prepared all the necessary documents, and we reapplied to FIFA. But again, we were denied with the explanation, “Too young”, and there was a [COVID] pandemic. As a result, I spent a year in Belarus without any game time.
The goal
My goal is to play for one of the top three clubs in England or Spain (three months after the interview, Khusanov would achieve his goal — ed.).
