“Pep Guardiola described it as ‘the best lesson you can take’. Abdukodir Khusanov’s language teacher might beg to differ. The Manchester City manager was talking after Khusanov endured a difficult debut against Chelsea recently, when the 20-year-old gave away a goal and picked up a yellow card inside the first five minutes. Asked whether he considered substituting Khusanov at that point, Guardiola replied: ‘Well, I have to learn Russian or Uzbek to communicate with him. He doesn’t speak English.’ On the same day, at the other end of the country, another player who arrived in the Premier League without a word of English was enjoying the best moment of his career so far. Dango Ouattara, who joined Bournemouth from the French club Lorient two years ago, scored a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)