Insider claims Pep Guardiola and Man City 'deliberately stopped' playing star to avoid activating secret clause

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City stopped playing one of their new signings to avoid paying an additional fee to his former club, an insider has claimed.

After a horrific run of form, City were very active in the January transfer market and dropped £180 million on four new signings in a bid to turn their season around.

But while Omar Marmoush featured regularly and scored eight goals in 22 appearances, both Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov found themselves well out of contention after early promise.

Uzbekistan international Khusanov, a £33.8 million signing from RC Lens, endured a difficult debut against Chelsea but put in a number of strong performances in City's backline and looked like a player with huge potential.

However, towards the end of the season, the 21-year-old was continually overlooked in both the starting eleven and squads - failing to make an appearance since coming off at half-time in a FA Cup quarter-final victory over Bournemouth in March.

Khusanov was not in the matchday squad for City's final four Premier League fixtures of the season and a potential explanation has emerged courtesy of a reporter from Uzbekistan.

Khusanov did not feature for City in April or May. Image: Getty

According to Mamadiyor Muxtarov, who has 50,000 followers on Instagram, City deliberately stopped playing Khusanov after he racked up nine appearances.

It was claimed that if Khusanov was to make 10 appearances in the 2024/25 campaign, City would have to pay €5 million to Lens as per stipulated in one of the bonuses inserted in his deal.

Because he was one off reaching the tally, it has been reported that City did not trigger the clause as a result.

These clauses do exist in top-level football, with Antoine Griezmann's game-time limited in an infamous Atletico Madrid ploy while he was on loan from Barcelona.

Though Guardiola has omitted him from selection in the final stretch, he has praised Khusanov and described him "as special" whilst praising his speed.

"He [Khusanov] was not expected to play this many games but the situation in the back four all season means he plays a lot of games," Guardiola said in a March press conference.

"He has a special quality. Really special. He’s so fast and he brings his passion.

“His face doesn’t always show but he shows it in many actions. We are delighted in the short time with training, with many things.