The man worth 50 million was discovered on L’Équipe TV

It’s done. Manchester City bought Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens for 50 million euros, even though they only paid 100,000 euros for him.

The genesis of this incredible added value is worth telling. Because there are careers that hang by a thread. That of Abdukodir Khusanov took off in France in a rather original way.

It was Baptiste Favier, former RC Lens recruiter, who discovered the Uzbek player in 2023. He returned to the columns of the daily “L’Équipe” on the unconventional way which allowed him to unearth this talent, then aged only 19 years old.

It all started while Baptiste Favier was following the U20 World Cup which took place in May 2023 in Argentina. “I watched the matches on the L’Équipe channel, especially those of the host country. But during the match against Uzbekistan, it was a player who amazed me: Abdukodir Khusanov. A total discovery,” he recalls.

The Frenchman therefore decided to keep an eye on this defender who played in the middle of a three-way system, the same one used by RC Lens. “I followed him during the rest of the competition against New Zealand, Guatemala and Israel, opponents who allowed his selection to play with a low block, contrary to what it had proposed against the ‘Argentina. This gives certainty on his use of the ball, his long diagonal play and the management of depth on opposing transitions,” continues the recruiter.

Since then, Abdukodir Khusanov has also played in the U20 Asian Cup and earned 18 caps for Uzbekistan A, who are second in their World Cup qualifying group, behind Iran.

But how did he behave at the club before going to the north of France? There too, he had to be found… within the contingent of Energetik Minsk, in the Belarusian first division. Because this championship only interested the world of Football during the Covid period, because it was the only one not to have been interrupted. Fans, especially sports betting fans, had to fall back on him.

“His profile was reworked by the other club scouts. This made it possible to complete a file complicated by the country of departure, an embargo, the language barrier, but also the few European clubs interested,” also explains Baptiste Favier.

And these clubs interested at the time for a transfer for 100,000 euros must be biting their fingers for not having been reactive or persuasive enough. This story also raises another question: where were the scouts of the big European clubs during the U20 World Cup in Argentina? Since it was a recruiter who worked from home who won.

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