Manchester City were one of the most active clubs in Europe during the January transfer window. The Citizens brought four new players in to try and help improve their fortunes this season.
It has been a poor first half to the 2024/25 campaign for Pep Guardiola’s side, who find themselves in a battle for the top four and a Champions League qualifier game against Real Madrid.
The East Mancunian outfit signed one attacker, Egypt international Omar Marmoush, from Eintracht Frankfurt. Spanish midfielder Nico Gonzalez also joined the club, from FC Porto, on deadline day.
City also brought in two centre-backs, including young Brazilian Vitor Reis, and Uzbekistan defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who had a baptism of fire at the start of his City career.
Khusanov’s City career so far
Debuts do not get much harder in the Premier League than facing Chelsea, particularly Cole Palmer. Jamie Carragher previously said the England international will be “the best player in the Premier League” if he continues his current form.
Well, Khusanov began his Citizens career against the City academy graduate and his teammates. It was a tough start, with the Uzbekistan international misplacing a header after pressure from Nicolas Jackson. The Senegal international pounced on the loose ball and squared it to Noni Madueke, which led to a Chelsea goal.
After a few more early mistakes, the 20-year-old looked more comfortable, although he was taken off after 54 minutes by Guardiola. He is yet to play again for the Citizens; Khusanov was unregistered in the Champions League first phase and was an unused substitute against Arsenal in the recent Premier League defeat.
The new City number 45 was not a cheap signing, with the reigning Premier League champions paying £33.5m for him. However, he is an investment for the future and has already shown good signs despite a rocky start.
With that being said, perhaps ta former academy graduate, who left the club almost four years ago, would have been better suited to their current squad and could have saved City a fortune on the signing of Khusanov.
The star City should not have sold
The player in question here is Spanish defender Eric Garcia. The 24-year-old was a product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy before making the move to City in 2017. He represented the club on numerous occasions but returned to Barca in 2021 on a free transfer, ditched by Guardiola.
In total, the Spaniard made 35 appearances for the club, between the 2018/19 and 2020/21 campaigns. He never really managed to nail down a place in the City starting lineup, with Guardiola typically favouring other centre-backs.
With that being said, Garcia was young during his time at the Etihad Stadium. He left when he was just 20 years of age, and perhaps a little more experience would have meant he got more minutes at first-team level. For City’s academy, he was a regular, playing exactly 50 games.
Team
Games
Minutes
G/A
Man City
35
2548
1
Man City u21s
16
1412
2
Man City u19s
9
780
0
Man City u18s
25
2180
5
Nowadays, the former La Masia star has a far more important role under Hansi Flick for Barca. The German showed great faith in him after his loan spell last season, making Garcia a core member of the La Liga giants’ squad.
He has played a key role for his boyhood club this term, featuring 21 times across all competitions. A couple of injuries have unfortunately restricted his game time. Garcia did manage to get on the scoresheet twice so far this term, including a goal away to Benfica in the exciting 5-4 match in the Champions League.
Looking back on it, perhaps City may regret not keeping Garcia longer at the club. Maybe they should have extended his contract and sent him out on loan to get valuable experience, before his return to the club where he could have become a more important player.
Not only would they have had another academy graduate pulling on that famous Blue shirt, but they might have been able to save themselves millions on Khusanov, and had a more experienced player in their squad from the start of the season.
