Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that one of the club's many January signings has already had a major impact and is "incredible" in the dressing room.
City spent upwards of �170m on four first-team arrivals during the transfer window, wasting little time in getting a squad overhaul underway, midway through their worst season in almost a decade.
Abdukodir Khusanov was first through the door, recruited for around �33.6m from Ligue 1 club Lens. He is the first player from Uzbekistan in Premier League history, but it hasn't been an easy ride after being thrown in at the deep end at the age of just 20.
Khusanov gifted Chelsea a goal just five minutes into his City debut last month, thrust straight into the starting, but Guardiola has been impressed by the player's character and resilience.
"What I like is that he is already incredible for the dressing room," the Catalan boss said.
"He travelled [to the Tottenham game] without a toothbrush and his washbag. Nothing. Arrived here to play football. When you talk to him he just laughs, laughs, laughs all the time but he is a reliable player. So fast, so quick, quality with passes is extraordinary. He breaks the lines. He has the ability to do it. He has to improve but he's 20. I've seen players with a lot of pace but he is one of them.
"People adore him. No complaints and so humble and I'm sure our fans will love him. It's not easy to overcome after what happened after five minutes against Chelsea but he was calm and he handled it. The games he's played recently, he's been really, really good."
Khusanov's immediate opportunity has come at the same time as Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have been dealing with varying injury problems. The youngster has started four Premier League games and has had a different centre-back partner every time.
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