Abdukodir Khusanov's agent, Gayrat Khasbiullin, has explained why his client is a Manchester City player rather than a Leeds United one.

Khusanov, 20, made his Man City debut during their Premier League match against Chelsea, with his error leading to the game's opening goal inside three minutes. The defender received a yellow some 60 seconds later for bringing down Cole Palmer after playing a misplaced pass out from the back.

Pep Guardiola then substituted the debutant not even 10 minutes into the second half, with John Stones coming off the bench. Despite his new club going on to win the game 3-1, it was not a dream debut for the first player from Uzbekistan to feature in the top-flight.

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Khusanov could have become the first Uzbek to play in the Championship, with claims late last year that Leeds offered Lens around £17million to sign him. French outlet Top Mercato reported that they were the first team to bid for the player before Man City ultimately spent almost double that amount for this month.

However, the player's agent has now revealed that the reigning Premier League champions were in talks with Lens before any bid from Leeds. Asked during an interview with Championat about when the interest from Man City appeared, Khasbiullin said: "Late November 2024, we heard about scouts. Lens reported that City were actively interested.

"Serious talks began in early December. In total, about 12 Premier League clubs expressed interest. It was clear that City would be among them.

"Another thing is that not all clubs could afford to make an offer now because they were experiencing restrictions due to financial fair play. City did not have such a problem, so they quickly persuaded Lens to pay €40 million (£33.78m) plus €10 million (£8.45m) in bonuses. All that was left was to agree with us."