Manchester City have made contact with Lens over a move for defender Abdukodir Khusanov, talkSPORT understands.
Uzbekistan international Khusanov, also shortlisted by Tottenham, is valued in excess of £30million by the French club.
The 20-year-old centre back has only one full season of experience in Europe’s major leagues, having moved to Ligue 1 in 2023 from Belarusian side Energetik-BGU.
Lens are currently sixth in the French top flight with the second-fewest goals conceded in the league.
City are in need of reinforcements after an injury-hit and underwhelming start to the season.
Regular starters John Stones and Nathan Ake have started 12 games each in all competitions with the former one of Pep Guardiola’s key players during a period of dominance at the Etihad.
Their run of four-straight Premier League titles looks set to end this season with City a whole 12 points behind league leaders Liverpool who have a game in hand.
Things began to derail in September when Ballon d’Or winner Rodri sustained a season-ending knee injury.
And during a dire pre-Christmas run, Guardiola insisted that things wouldn’t get better until he had his best players back.
When asked about potential January transfer business, he said: “What I want is my players back – the players that we have.
“I want the squad that we had at the beginning of the season that were desperately competing.
“This is the only regret I have, that I don’t have these players – not new ones.
“In the right moment, we will see. The transfer market has shown how expensive players are in the past four or five years. I’m sorry, we’re not the best in those terms.
“If we need players then we go to the transfer market but I don’t know who is around.”
Along with Khusanov, City have also been linked to Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush who has had a stunning start to the season.
However, talkSPORT understands that a deal would cost £50m.
Should a move materialise for Khusanov, the defender would become the first Uzbek player to appear in the Premier League.