Pep Guardiola gamble already looks to be paying off for Man City

February has been a month to forget for Manchester City.

Thumped by Arsenal, squeezing past Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, knocked out of the Champions League and a loss to runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool.

However, one positive City fans can take from a dismal month is the turnaround in form of new signing Abdukodir Khusanov. Despite a shocking debut against Chelsea, where Khusanov committed some calamitous errors just minutes into the game, the youngster has shown the character to bounce back with some solid displays.

It’s rare for a City signing to be thrown in at the deep end; even the great Rodri took a season of bedding in to get used to a Pep Guardiola side. But City’s injury crisis meant they could not afford Khusanov such luxury.

Since arriving from Lens for £33.5million, Khusanov has faced the likes of Alexander Isak, Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr, Mohamed Salah, Rodrygo and Cole Palmer.

That’s some introduction to football at the highest level for any player, let alone a 20-year-old who had only made 31 appearances for a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues prior to his move to City.

After a debut to forget for Khusanov, Guardiola could easily have decided that, even with an ongoing injury crisis, it was too soon for his young signing and considered him more of a back-up option until the end of the season. Instead, he’s handed Khusanov a starting role in City’s toughest run of the season to date.

The youngster impressed against arguably the most in-form striker in the country, Isak, as City battered Newcastle 4-0. He then performed well on his European debut away at the Bernabeu to reigning European champions Real Madrid. On Sunday he was one of City’s better players, along with Jeremy Doku, despite