“No wash bag, no nothing!” – Pep Guardiola offers behind-the-scenes insight into Abdukodir Khusanov’s matchday habits | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed precisely why Abdukodir Khusanov is already loved within the club, speaking during a recent interview.

The Uzbekistan international has rapidly become a firm fan favourite both online and within the stadium bowl of late, after a seriously impressive run of outings for Manchester City since a challenging debut performance.

Many rival supporters will remember Khusanov’s opening 10 minutes in his City debut against Chelsea that featured an error directly leading to a goal and a yellow card for a late challenge on Cole Palmer, but the 21-year-old resurgence since then has been astonishing.

Strong outings against both Liverpool at home and Tottenham in North London in Premier League action were coupled with a performance at right-back against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he kept Vinicius Jr quiet for the majority of the contest.

And it is not just the excelling performances on the pitch that are moving Abdukodir Khusanov into the ranks of perhaps Manchester City’s most popular player at present, with his manager offering some new details about his off-field habits.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Pep Guardiola admitted to reporters that Abdukodir Khusanov is the only first-team star at Manchester City to travel to away matches without anything other than his tracksuit.

“What I like is already he’s incredibly liked in the dressing room! Today (against Tottenham) he travelled with no wash bag, no nothing. He arrived to play football. And when you talk to him, he just laughs, all the time,” Guardiola revealed.

“But he’s a reliable player; so fast, so quick, with the ball the quality of pass is extraordinary,” he continued.

“He breaks lines, has ability to do it. Of course he has to improve, but he’s 20, so young. I’ve seen players with a lot of pace and this is one of them.

“The people adore him; he’s silent, works, no complaints, so humble. I’m pretty sure our fans will love him! It’s not easy to overcome his first impact against Chelsea, what happened.

“But he was calm the days after, and the games he’s played recently have been really, really good.”

Most recently, Khusanov was left out of Manchester City’s matchday squad against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fifth round with no word on any injury concern and many believing that his absence was merely down to required rest.

Manchester City have a stern test on the horizon in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon as they travel to the City Ground to take on third-placed Nottingham Forest in a battle between two sides desperate for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

With Nathan Ake, John Stones, and Manuel Akanji all sidelined through various injury concerns, the obvious expectation is that Khusanov will start in the centre of defence for City alongside Ruben Dias.