Olaleye Idowu
Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has said he would need to take lessons in Russian or Uzbek to communicate with new signing Abdukodir Khusanov, as the player does not understand English.
The 20-year-old was making his debut for Manchester City on Saturday when they beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
The Uzbekistan international appeared to struggle to adapt to the pace of the English game.
Guardiola handed Khusanov a full debut following a €40 million transfer from Ligue 1 side Lens as his team hosted Chelsea.
The youngster struggled and was substituted nine minutes into the second half.
“He doesn’t speak English, so I didn’t speak to him. He’ll be fine. He only had one or two training sessions. I didn’t want to push John [Stones], who is returning from injury, with Wednesday’s game [vs Club Brugge] coming up,” Guardiola told reporters about his decision after the game.
“The players were together, and that was massively important. Any player can make a mistake. The Manchester City fans always support the new players. He’s so young, and he will learn.
“It’s not easy for him. He trained once and then had to play against [Nicolas] Jackson, Cole [Palmer], [Noni] Madueke, and [Jadon] Sancho. It’s a process when you sign a player this young.
“He’ll learn. These kinds of situations are the best lessons you can take.”
When asked if he considered substituting Khusanov after five minutes, the former Barcelona manager added, “Well, I have to learn Russian or Uzbek to communicate with him…”
“He doesn’t speak English!”
