Manchester City have also entered the new season. With a refreshed squad, Josep Guardiola will try to win the major trophies in the English Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, and several cup competitions. Outlets covering English football are analyzing teams’ readiness for the season.
A reputable source — The Athletic — expert Jordan Campbell covered the situation around Manchester City’s Uzbek legionnaire Abduqodir Husanov.
— Abduqodir Husanov is expected to be moved to a new position. The Uzbek footballer, whom Real once also targeted, played a total of 21 matches last season for Lens and Manchester City as a centre-back. Nevertheless, in the UEFA Champions League match in Madrid — a 1–3 loss to Real — and in the Club World Cup match — a 6–0 win over Al-Ain — Josep Guardiola used Abduqodir in another role: right-back.
According to experts, in the 2025–2026 season the holder of the No. 45 shirt will more often appear as a right-sided defender. In particular, the fact that sporting director Ugo Viana did not sign a new player at right-back during the summer window indicates Husanov will be needed more on that side.
In my personal view, the main changes and innovations in the team will be around Tijjani Reijnders. Last season the team lacked mobility in midfield, and that was the main reason for problems in organizing counterattacks. Also, we should not rule out Abduqodir Husanov, who can play on the right flank: he is very fast and very good one-on-one — qualities that have become a very important factor in today’s modern Premier League. Husanov has shown he can play right-back and may fully resolve the issues in this position.
As mentioned earlier, shortly after arriving in Manchester, Husanov was placed at right-back against Real — which was like throwing him into the fire. Even so, the Tashkent lad managed to stop stars like Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé, and showed that as a right-back he can cover this problem area for a long time.
In Madrid Husanov cleared the ball from the goal area three times, recorded one block, one ball recovery, one key pass and one successful dribble, and 93 percent of his passes were accurate. Marking Vinícius personally, Abduqodir pressured the Brazilian star so that he scored no goals, made no assists, lost the ball 12 times, more than half of his dribbles failed, and he even did not deliver a single accurate cross.
Last season Matheus Nunes did well at right-back, but despite Guardiola giving few opportunities, Husanov proved he has all the skills and qualities to play at a high level in this role, wrote The Athletic expert Jordan Campbell.
Manchester City will start the new Premier League season on 16 August, away to Wolverhampton. Fixture congestion, squad rotation and new roles — all will define the next steps in Guardiola’s project. For fans, the main intrigue is clear: Is Husanov the stable solution at right-back? The new season will answer on the pitch.
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