Man City shock: ‘Chelsea give Khusanov hardest 3mins of his life’ – Gary Neville
Man City new boy Abdukodir Khusanov was given the hardest three minutes of his life by Chelsea, according to Gary Neville.
The Uzbekistan international was making his debut for the Citizens against Chelsea after signing from RC Lens for £33.5million [Sky Sports].
Just three minutes into his debut, the 20-year-old tried to header the ball back to City goalkeeper, Ederson, but failed to get enough power on his pass, allowing Nicolas Jackson to get to the ball first.
The Senegalese striker then played a simple pass to Noni Madueke, who tapped the ball into an empty net to give Chelsea the lead.
Khusanov was fortunate that Chelsea did find the back of the net, as VAR looked at his attempts to win the ball back as a denial of a goal-scoring chance. The Uzbek defender was instead given a yellow card.
Speaking on Sky Sports Main Event, former Man United defender, Neville, said (5.38pm): “This boy is 20-years-old and this will be as difficult a three minutes that he’ll have had in his life.
“He needs some support from those players around him.”
Man City try and fix their season with desperation signings
Football Insider Verdict
Omar Marmoush, a £59million signing from Frankfurt [The Guardian], was also making his debut alongside Khusanov.
The Egyptian forward was signed in January to replace Julian Alvarez, who joined Atletico Madrid in the Summer.
Man City have been known to favour doing their transfer business in the Summer transfer window, but poor results have caused the Sky Blues to go searching for answers in January.
The decision to allow Alvarez to leave without an adequate replacement has meant that striker Erling Haaland has been without a back-up this season, and the Norwegian had a drop in form during the busy Christmas period.
John Stones and Ruben Dias are both prone to injury issues, and both have missed large chunks of the season. City signed Khusanov and young Brazilian Vitor Reis in January and neither player will have an off-season to acclimate to Pep Guardiola’s style of football until next summer.
All three signings are unusual when it comes to City’s usual recruitment approach, but with the club currently sitting seventh in the Premier League and a shocking 25th in the Champions League group stage, Guardiola and his team have been forced to make some panicked moves.
Another January transfer may take place for City, with top clubs potentially queuing up to sign Jack Grealish.
Josko Gvardiol levelled just before half-time to give the home side a foothold after their dismal start.
In other news, Kyle Walker has sent a message to City fans after his move to an Italian giant.
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