Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis’ place in Manchester City pecking order revealed | OneFootball

A new report has revealed just how Manchester City’s new signings are position in the club’s defensive pecking order ahead of their potential debuts this weekend.

Manchester City welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening knowing that victory would move them firmly into the Premier League’s top-four, but wins are far from certain these days with Pep Guardiola’s side.

Having gone unbeaten from a 1-1 home draw against Everton on Boxing Day, there had been some hope of a second-half revival from the club this season after a dismal November and December run of form largely ruling them out of the top-flight title race.

But those hopes were brought crashing back down to earth on Wednesday night as a 0-2 lead in Paris was thrown away in the final 35 minutes as PSG put four into Ederson’s goal to record a crucial 4-2 win for Luis Enrique’s side in the Champions League.

That contest also brought misery on the injury front, as Ruben Dias joined Nathan Ake on the sidelines requiring treatment, meaning a full Manchester City debut for either of the club’s new defensive recruits is more likely in the coming matches.

As part of a new, wide-ranging report form MailSport’s Jack Gaughan, it is detailed that while Vitor Reis has featured as a left-back in his young career and as such can give his new club some flexibility in defence, he is seen as behind Abdukodir Khusanov in the pecking order.

Pep Guardiola himself spoke about Khusanov’s flexibility across his defensive line during his pre-match press conference, telling reporters that the Uzbek youngster can play as a centre-back, right-back, and as a right-sided centre-back in a back-three.

Speaking at length about the process that was undertaken by Manchester City to secure one of Europe’s hottest prospects, the Etihad Stadium boss revealed that Khusanov had been first discussed at the very start of the season by Txiki Begiristain – the club’s sporting director.

“Since the beginning of the season, when we made meetings with Txiki [Begiristain], they said potential players in every position, and started to talk about him,” Guardiola told reporters.

“For the situation with John [Stones], Nathan [Ake], Manu [Akanji], Ruben [Dias], we go to the market. This is a player for the next years because all the players we don’t sign for one year. There are big, big years to come here, and that’s we decided to do it.”

The Manchester City boss continued, “We saw his qualities we don’t have, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to help. He’s young, going to learn like Vitor [Reis], Omar [Marmoush].

“They need time. Always it’s better to do in summer to have the process of pre-season but as much as we have new players from the bench or playing every three days, that is important.”