Abdukodir Khusanov’s agent Gairat Khasbiullin has revealed that Manchester United were the first to show interest in him, long before Manchester City moved this month.
The agent revealed all in a talk with Championat, in which he provided background details on his client and previous interest in him.
The 20-year-old is one of several new faces to arrive at Manchester City this month, signing in a €40m deal from Lens.
He had been earning himself a growing reputation in France after moving there in 2023, with a series of impressive performances for Lens putting him on the radar of Premier League clubs.
Several had all been linked with a move, with Khasbiullin also revealing today that Newcastle had actually been the first to move for him but were eventually beaten to the punch by Manchester City.
Manchester United were never mentioned as suitors over the past few months, perhaps after a summer of signing players such as Mathijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro to bolster their defence.
However, Khasbiullin insists they were in fact the first to show an interest, with a scout insisting the player had Manchester United DNA.
“Manchester United,” he said when asked who ‘was the first to show interest’ in his client.
“In May 2023, United scout Nicolas Chenalli was in Argentina for the U20 World Cup. After the second match of Uzbekistan at the tournament, he found my contact and wanted to meet.
“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?'”
A conversation with Chenalli naturally followed and it appears he was keen on the signing, but former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag shut down the idea.
“(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,” added Khasbiullin.
“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 City but regretted that the player did not end up at Manchester United.”
