The January transfer window was a crucial period in Man City’s season.
The 2024/25 campaign has been an underwhelming one for the Manchester club as Pep Guardiola’s side have gone from winning four Premier League titles in a row to fighting for a place in next season’s Champions League with two games remaining.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 2 |  ArsenalArsenal | 36 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 66 | 33 | 33 | 68 |
| 3 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 36 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 68 | 45 | 23 | 66 |
| 4 |  Man CityManchester City | 36 | 19 | 8 | 9 | 67 | 43 | 24 | 65 |
| 5 |  ChelseaChelsea | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 62 | 43 | 19 | 63 |
| 6 |  Aston VillaAston Villa | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 56 | 49 | 7 | 63 |
The season will be salvaged if they can achieve this, in addition to winning the FA Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, with the January transfer window playing a key role in this.
Guardiola has been impressed with how Omar Marmoush has settled at Man City, while the Spaniard also saw Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Vitor Reis join his squad.
Real Madrid wanted two of these stars, having tracked them for some time and moving to Manchester has now ruined the La Liga club’s long-term plans.
- READ MORE: Manchester City actually offered £50m player to Real Madrid in the January transfer window
Real Madrid were tracking Abdukodir Khusanov
It has been a tough start to life for Khusanov at Man City as the youngster was thrown into the deep end very quickly after signing for the Manchester club against Chelsea, a contest in which the 21-year-old made a huge mistake.
This showed how desperate Guardiola was for defensive reinforcements in January, which is why City completed the £33.5m signing of the centre-back, beating Real Madrid to his signature.
According to The Athletic, Khusanov and Reis were being tracked by the La Liga giants before they made the switch to Man City, as the duo were likely viewed as a long-term centre-back pairing at the Bernabeu.
This shows how highly-rated Khusanov is and behind the scenes, Man City have high hopes for the young defender.
Despite his difficult start in Manchester, Roy Keane believes Khusanov will be fine at Man City once he settles in more and learns English.
Fans of City have not seen the 21-year-old for several weeks, and the reason for this was recently explained.
- READ MORE: Girlfriend of £101m Man City target now wants Manchester move but the player’s parents disagree
What is happening with Abdukodir Khusanov at Man City
Khusanov has featured for Man City nine times since joining Guardiola’s squad at the start of the year, however, the youngster has not featured in any of the Manchester club’s last seven Premier League games, which had fans asking questions.
There are several reasons for this, with it recently being revealed that Khusanov hadn’t trained for a whole month before moving to the Etihad Stadium due to a winter break in France and then not being with Will Still’s group as a transfer to Man City edged closer.
| Competiton | Games | Goals | Assists | Minutes |
| Premier League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 504 |
| FA Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 90 |
| Champions League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
In addition to this, Nico O’Reilly’s emergence at left back and Josko Gvardiol forming a strong partnership with Ruben Dias has resulted in Guardiola sticking with a back four that he is comfortable with, which in turn has affected Khusanov’s minutes.
The defender continues to settle into Guardiola’s way of doing things, while the youngster is still working on learning English ahead of next season.
Khusanov is undoubtedly a top player, but when it comes to the young centre-back, Man City fans will need to have a little bit of patience.
