Agent reveals Erik ten Hag rejected chance to sign one of Manchester City’s new January transfers | OneFootball

Former Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag personally rejected the idea of signing a player that Manchester City have now snapped up for €40 million.

That concerned Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who became the Premier League champions first recruit of the ongoing January transfer window, as club officials get to work urgently on a rebuild of Pep Guardiola’s playing squad.

Having endured a number of problems throughout the first-half the season, largely centred around injury and fitness issues hampering available players, Manchester City transfer officials ripped up their traditional in-house rule book of not operating in the winter market.

And among the priorities was the strengthening of defence as Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff have been forced to battle without any of their central defenders at various points of the season so far.

But while there is no doubt that Manchester City have now secured a player for the immediate term and future in Abdukodir Khusanov, matters could have been very different for the player had a potential suitor come calling from the Premier League earlier in his career.

Speaking during a new interview with Championat this week, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, Abdukodir Khusanov’s agent, Gairat Khasbiullin has revealed that City rivals Manchester United were the first club to show an interest in the Uzbek defender.

“In May 2023, (Manchester) United scout Nicolas Chenalli was in Argentina for the Under-20 World Cup. After the second match of Uzbekistan at the tournament, he found my contact and wanted to meet,” Khasbiullin revealed during the interview.

He continued, “I was also in Argentina then, and we thought of meeting in Buenos Aires, but it didn’t work out because of the matches. Then it turned out that he stayed in Rosario only for a day and then flew away.

“I just went out onto the street in Buenos Aires and caught a taxi to Rosario. The driver turned out to be a River Plate fan. All the way we tried to communicate about football through a translator. When a Manchester United scout came up and gave him his business card, the driver went nuts: ‘Who are you anyway?'”

Gairat Khasbiullin went on to explain, “(He said) that Khusanov has Manchester United DNA. It was at that moment that I realised that the guy would end up in a top club.

“The scout made a detailed report, but coach Ten Hag said that the defender was not quite ready to help the team at that time. Recently we corresponded with that Manchester United scout.

“He congratulated us on the transfer to (Manchester) City but regretted that the player did not end up at Manchester United.”

There is absolutely no doubt that the ship has sailed for Khusanov and Manchester United, with the player firmly committed to the blue side of the city, with a debut for the club likely in the immediate matches starting with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.