In July 2023, Abdukodir Khusanov joined RC Lens in Ligue 1 from Belarusian club Energetik-BGU for €100k.
When he moved to France, the young centre-back was a virtual unknown, valued at €400k by Transfermarkt.
A year and a half after that move, Khusanov (186cm/6’1”, 84kg/185lbs) has made a significant impression in France’s top-flight.
The Uzbekistan international has made 31 appearances for Lens but is currently said to be garnering interest from several top-flight clubs around Europe, including Newcastle United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, according to reports which also claim his club now value him as high as €25-30m.
Superagent Jorge Mendes is said to have been drafted in to handle Khusanov’s sale this January amid growing interest in and speculation about his future throughout Europe.
Reports have even emerged claiming that EFL Championship Leeds United are keen to beat their Premier League competition to the 20-year-old centre-back’s signature as they seek to boost their promotion hopes.
So, what’s all the fuss about as it pertains to this in-demand talent?
Our Abdukodir Khusanov scouting report and player analysis shares some insight on the player’s game via data analysis and video analysis to illustrate how he’s made such a name for himself at Lens and why so many clubs are hot on his tail this winter.
Who Is Abdukodir Khusanov?
Firstly, we’re going to use data to profile the centre-back and explain his overall game.
Abdukodir Khusanov 2024/25 Pizza Chart
Average at best in possession, according to the data, Khusanov stands out for his out-of-possession qualities.
The Lens man essentially pops out as elite in each defensive category we’ve listed bar aerial duels per 90 (his aerial duel success rate, however, impressively places him in the 73rd percentile among the dataset).
From watching his performances for Lens over the past year or so, this is a fairly accurate assessment of the player’s game.
He does attempt to push his team forward with progressive passes, but he’s also quite limited on the ball and will generally err on the side of caution when it comes to ball progression.
Abdukodir Khusanov 2024/25 Progressive Pass Map
Looking at the 20-year-old’s progressive pass map, very few of his forward balls go towards central destinations, with the vast majority being spread out to the wings, where you’re unlikely to find much opposition pressure.
He has played some well-executed long crossfield balls forward which we can see in figure 2.
Abdukodir Khusanov 2024/25 Heat Map
Lens have primarily played with three centre-backs this season, switching to two in some more recent games.
At the beginning of the campaign, Khusanov was deployed in the central centre-back position, but he has also spent some time at both left and right centre-back in the back three, with the right-footed defender a little more comfortable on the right than the left.
However, his profile and skill set make him far better suited for the central centre-back position where he started the campaign.
Khusanov has also played in a two-centre-back partnership and performed quite comfortably.
Abdukodir Khusanov 2024/25 Defensive Territory Map
The majority of Khusanov’s defensive actions have come quite deep — a result of his playing the central centre-back role quite a bit towards the start of the season.
Defensive actions inside the opposition’s half — almost all wider — come from his games in the wide centre-back positions.
For a more in-depth tactical analysis of Will Still’s defensive tactics at Lens this season, click ‘here’.
In a nutshell, Lens’ wide centre-backs press aggressively to cover their midfielders, who do the same.
This sees their wide centre-backs defending a broader area and committing plenty of defensive actions inside the opposition’s half of the pitch.
On the other hand, the central centre-back will cover the wide centre-backs and shuffle from left to right, mostly remaining quite central behind them to sweep up any balls that make it beyond the wide aggressors.
Again, the latter suits Khusanov more than the former — let’s analyse why.
Abdukodir Khusanov Ground Duels
Khusanov has been highly impressive in ground duels (87.4 percentile for defensive duel success % and 92.2 percentile for defensive duels per 90 rate, as well as 83.8 percentile in defensive positioning — a combination of tackles and interceptions) this term, as displayed by the pizza chart in figure 1.
He’s better suited to defending more centrally and in smaller areas than in covering larger areas due to his lack of pace and agility.
Khusanov’s strengths in defending lie in his strong positional sense, ability to read the game, and, crucially, his timing of challenges.
The Uzbek defender is also good at marking attackers and using his size and strength to his advantage.
Playing as the left centre-back in a back two versus OGC Nice in figure 5, we see Khusanov stepping out slightly to get touch-tight to an attacker who’s dropping to receive the ball to feet.
As the attacker tried to turn, Khusanov was well-positioned to tackle.
He timed his challenge exceptionally well, avoiding a foul despite getting extremely physical with the forward.
He ensured he got the ball and dispossessed the attacker cleanly.
This passage of play highlights strengths in Khusanov’s positioning, reading of the game, timing and marking — all of which we mentioned above.
This also highlights why he’s such a good defender in tighter, more central positions, as all of the above qualities lend themselves to those situations.
First, there are positives.
Khusanov did well to spot the threat early and start getting out to close down the intended receiver.
Again, the defender gets tight to the receiver.
However, as play moves on here, there’s enough space around the ball carrier for him to wriggle away from Khusanov, find a way to turn and keep play moving forward.
Now, Lens are one man short in the backline with the opposition are running straight towards them.
Khusanov’s pace and agility are not the best — a weakness in his game when deployed as a wide centre-back.
He can still be effective, but if he’s beaten in larger areas, the young centre-back will find it difficult to recover.
With that said, his reading of the game, positioning and timing of challenges still help him to make a solid impact when required to cover in behind — an important part of his role regardless of whether he’s deployed as a central centre-back or wide centre-back.
Figure 9 above shows an example of Khusanov responding as the opposition play a through ball in behind their defensive line.
Khusanov manages to get back and time a decisive challenge perfectly to end the attack — again highlighting how good positioning, timing and reading of the game combine to make Khusanov a strong defensive asset.
Abdukodir Khusanov Aerial Duels
Despite engaging in a relatively low number of aerial duels during his time at Lens, Abdukodir Khusanov has proven quite effective in them.
The defender’s physicality plays a role in his effectiveness in aerial duels, as figures 11 and 12 demonstrate.
Here, Khusanov has shifted out and got tight to an attacker as the ball approaches in the air.
The 186cm centre-back leans on his opponent and nods the ball towards his teammate, winning this aerial duel through positioning, reading of the game and physicality.
Here, the opposition right centre-back raises his head and begins lining up a long ball towards an overlapping right-back, who is beginning his run down the wing.
Khusanov notices the potential danger and begins moving out to engage with the wide threat.
Khusanov’s ability to read the game allowed him to react early, which, in turn, helped him get in a position to engage in and win the aerial duel that came at the end of this long pass.
Conclusion
To conclude this analysis and scout report, Abdukodir Khusanov style of play is not without weaknesses.
However, he has done well enough in a highly competitive league, using his numerous strengths to make a very strong impression this season.
With the defender now likely to depart Lens soon, Les Sang et Or deserve credit for the scouting that brought Khusanov to Stade Bollaert-Delelis from Belarus, setting them up to make a nice profit on his impending sale.
A move to a club like Manchester City may be a bit early for Khusanov at this point, considering the limited amount of time he’s spent with Lens and the demands a club like that would place on the 20-year-old defender who still has plenty of time and room to grow in his career.
If it’s a Premier League move that’s on the cards, of the three teams mentioned in our introduction, Newcastle United would probably be the best fit for his current level.
