Abdukodir Khusanov: Manchester City sign Lens and Uzbekistan centre-back until 2029

Manchester City have signed Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov on a four-and-a-half-year contract until 2029.

Club sources say the fee for the 20-year-old is 40m euros (£33.6m) plus add-ons.

French side Lens only paid 100,000 euros (£84,000) for Khusanov from Belarusian club Energetik-BGU 18 months ago.

However, he has developed rapidly and made 16 appearances for the Ligue 1 side this season, scoring his first goal for the club in a French Cup tie with Paris St-Germain in December.

Khusanov has 18 caps for Uzbekistan and will become the first player from the country to play in the Premier League.

“This squad is full of the best players in the world, and I can’t wait to meet them and play alongside them,” said Khusanov.

“And of course Pep Guardiola is one of the greatest coaches ever and I am so excited to learn from him and improve my game even more.”

Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, said Khusanov is already “very intelligent, as well as being strong, aggressive and extremely quick”.

Guardiola is strengthening his squad this month after a difficult run of results which has left his side fourth in the table – 12 points behind league leaders Liverpool.

City looked at their ruthless best at the weekend when they beat Ipswich Town 6-0 at Portman Road – their biggest Premier League victory of the season.

On Wednesday, they travel to the French capital to face PSG in the Champions League – needing a win to boost their chances of reaching the knockout stages.