Man City expected to make £63m transfer calls ahead of Premier League start

Manchester City are getting their squad ready for the new season and have made decisions on two centre-backs

Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis

Manchester City are expected to keep Abdukodir Khusanov for this season with talks under way to send Vitor Reis on loan to Girona. The two defenders arrived in January for a combined fee of £63m and both faced questions over their position in Pep Guardiola's squad for the new campaign.

The pair were signed for their potential earlier this year, snapped up at a young age with the view that they would form an important part of the first team in years to come. However, Khusanov was thrust straight into the limelight amid an injury crisis and started soon after joining.

An horrendous first five minutes of his career were impressively moved on from and Khusanov was named the club's player of the month for February after some stellar Premier League performances as well as a decent effort at right-back against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. Overcoming a significant language barrier and the wider problems the team were facing, the 21-year-old was praised for his refreshingly plain approach by Guardiola that included not bothering with a washbag for his first away games.

The first Uzbek to play in the Premier League saw his minutes disappear in the final few months though, with his half-time substitution in the FA Cup quarter-final at Bournemouth seeing Nico O'Reilly replace him and show to everyone the way that the team would set up for the run-in. At the Club World Cup in summer, he managed just one appearance of 60 minutes across City's four games.

Reis was among the defenders to manage more, while the signing of Rayan Ait-Nouri increases the chances of Josko Gvardiol playing more as a centre-back. With reports that City were looking to keep Reis this season, there were whispers that Khusanov could leave on loan as they look to trim a squad that has too many non-homegrown players to be registered for the Champions League.

As well as Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji are all still part of Guardiola's squad. But the Uzbek is looking forward to challenging them again for a starting place at the Etihad as he aims to build on his start with the club.

Reis, meanwhile, is set to join Girona on loan for the campaign after talks between the two City Football Group clubs. The link-up has been a profitable one for both over the years, with Savinho the biggest success story after his performances in La Liga earned him a move to the Premier League.

City were not allowed to send players on loan to Girona last year with the two clubs competing in the Champions League, but that restriction has been lifted given the Spanish club were unable to qualify for this year's competition.

Claudio Echeverri and Sverre Nypan have attracted lots of interest from clubs looking to take them on loan this season, and there could be more departures as work is undertaken to trim down Guardiola's squad.

---

Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.

Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.

You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.

And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.