Man City defender to miss Atletico match after flying home early

Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov will not feature against Atletico after leaving the tour early

Abdukodir Khusanov will not play any part in the final Manchester City friendly of their summer tour. The Uzbek defender has flown home early after a personal issue came up that needed him to leave Enzo Maresca’s squad.

Khusanov was given permission to go and is expected back in training shortly but was absent for both City’s open training session on Saturday and then the game on Sunday. Vitor Reis partnered Ruben Dias in drills on Saturday and could earn his first start of the tour.

Khusanov was tipped ahead of Reis when both joined the club in the winter transfer window at the beginning of 2025. The signing from Lens was kept at the Etihad last season while Reis went out to Girona on loan, and no central defender ended up playing more minutes than Khusanov in Pep Guardiola’s final year in charge.

Maresca is counting on Khusanov as one of his centre-backs and his ability to play right-back has also influenced City transfer plans. They had been looking to recruit a back-up for Matheus Nunes in that role but are likely to leave it now given Khusanov’s competency.

The new coach is also expected to keep Reis with the squad this season. He can also play those two positions and has never hidden his ambition to make the first team squad, with City impressed by what he has shown this summer in pre-season.

City will fly home straight after their match on Sunday, returning to Manchester in the early hours of Monday morning. When they head to the City Football Academy for training later in the week, they will be joined by the last seven World Cup stars in the squad - or six if Rodri does not report back for duty.

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