20-year-old centre-back Husanov is about to join Manchester City, and Uzbekistan's youth training has borne fruit again

The reporter reported coldly This winter window, the 20-year-old Uzbekistan (hereinafter referred to as Uzi) central defender Husanov who plays for Lens can be called the most sought after celebrity by European giants, and Grand Paris, Tottenham, and Newcastle have already targeted him in December last year, and after the New Year, Real Madrid and Manchester City have joined the competition, and Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Napoli are also interested. The latest news reveals that Manchester City have agreed a transfer agreement with Lens for a fee of €40 million plus a variable bonus for a four-and-a-half-year contract with an option to extend for another year, with the player undergoing a medical in the coming days.

In the summer of 2023, Lens signed the 19-year-old Husanov for only 100,000 yuan, and if the winter window is successfully sold at a high price, they will get hundreds of times the transfer profit! furthermoreHusanov will also be the most expensive player in Uzi's history, surpassing Shomurodov, who joined Roma from Genoa in the summer of 2021 (€19.6 million).

Husanov, who turned 21 on February 29, became the most watched Asian player of the new year overnight. He comes from a football family, and his father, Sikmata Hashmov, is a Uzzi legend who made more than 300 league appearances in the country, played in the 2007 Asian Cup, but only played 15 minutes as a substitute against Iran in the group stage, and he was on the bench in the final group stage against the Uzzi national football team, 3-0 for the national team. After retiring as a player, he coached the Tashkent Creators and now holds an executive position at the club.

Husanov started his football career at the age of 5 and then attended the best Tashkent Creators Football School in Uzida. Although he has been regarded as a "second-generation star" since he was a child, he has proved that his strength deserves a halo.In Uzi, Husanov is considered the successor to Klimets (who played in the Chinese Super League), and in the spring of 2022 he joined the Belarusian State University Club.

Despite not playing in a major European league, Husanov has been named to the CIES Football Observatory's "World's Rookie Rankings" for two years in a row. At the age of 18, Husanov crossed the relegation to enter the U20 national youth team, and helped the team reach the U23 Asian Cup final in 2023, but lost to Japan. Today, at the age of 21, Husanov has as many as 18 senior national team appearances and is considered one of Uzi's most promising future superstars.

At the club, Husanov has become the main central defender of Lens this season, and in the first half of the 16 Ligue 1 games, Lens conceded 15 goals, only one more than the big Paris.

Husanov is only 1.86 meters tall, but he is physically strong and extremely fast. He once chased back from the opponent's penalty area at high speed to his own penalty area, with a speed of up to 37 km/h, and the related video went viral on social media. In addition, Husanov averaged 2.34 interceptions per game, ranking among the top defenders in Europe's top five leagues, with good statistics such as tackles, clearances, blocked shots, and ball control under pressure per game, and his value has soared from 400,000 at the beginning of his franchise to 12 million at present.

Before Husanov, the value list of Asian players had always been monopolized by Japanese and South Korean players. Previously, there were 12 transfers of Asian players with a transfer fee of more than 20 million euros, including 5 in Japan, the highest being Shoya Nakajima (35 million), then Hidetoshi Nakata transferred to Parma (28.4 million), Hiroki Ito transferred to Bayern (23.5 million), Hidetoshi Nakata transferred to Roma (21.7 million), and Endo transferred to Liverpool (20 million); South Korea 3 times, after Kim Min-jae (50 million), it was Son Heung-min who joined Tottenham (30 million) and Lee Gang-in who joined Grand Paris (22 million); China twice, Zhao Mingjian joined Huaxia (20.8 million) and Zhang Chengdong joined Huaxia (20.45 million); Iran (Jahanbaksh, 22.5 million) and Saudi Arabia (Al-Halabhi, 29 million) each have 1 each. Among them, Zhao Mingjian, Zhang Chengdong and Hallebi are all the results of the premium of local players under "Jinyuan Football".

After Shomurodov, Husanov once again proved the success of Uzi's youth football academy. At the moment, they also have eight players in the Russian Premier League, three in the Turkish Super League, and six in the three major leagues in the Middle East, Iran (three), the United Arab Emirates (two) and Saudi Arabia (one). The Central Asian White Wolves are relying on the success of youth training and overseas players to strive to be among the first echelon in Asia.