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Jeremy Doku: What does he bring to Manchester City?

By Ninad Barbadikar

09:19 · MON August 28, 2023

Pep Guardiola has a liking for a certain kind of dribbler.

It’s one of the reasons why the Citizens splashed out £100m to get Jack Grealish from Aston Villa after a sensational season for the Englishman.

Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez’s departures have paved the way for another dribble-happy wide player at City and to fill that gap, the club have enlisted the services of Duracell dribbler, Jeremy Doku.

The recently turned 21-year-old Belgian had a stand-out second half of the season in 2022-23 in Ligue 1, and will now make the step up to the European and Premier League champions. So why have City signed Doku? And what does he bring that they do not have?

Potentially the best winger on the market

So, Doku’s stock is on the rise at club and international level.

With the Belgian national side experiencing something of a transition away from the old guard into embracing the new generation, Doku is very much at the forefront of that change.

The 21-year-old has already garnered significant experience in all three UEFA competitions, and within the Ligue 1 landscape, Doku’s talents have come into the spotlight since Kamaldeen Sulemana’s departure to Southampton in January.

Doku effectively ended the season as the best young attacker in the league and for all of those reasons, he commands a fee that corresponds to his qualities and his potential.

It’s also worth noting that there is a real dearth of quality when you look at right sided wingers on the market and Doku is potentially the best of the lot.

A dribble monster

Dribbles, a bucket load of dribbles.

To put Doku’s penchant for dribbles into context, last season he ranked 14th for attempted dribbles across Europe's Top Five leagues, which is impressive but not nearly as impressive as being third for successful dribbles overall.

The two players above him? Lionel Messi and Vinicius Junior.

Doku is a hugely dynamic player on the ball and his low center of gravity helps him in various situations in and out of possession.

The Belgian is comfortable playing wide right or left and is an exciting watch not only because of his dribbling prowess but also because of his two-footed nature. In one v one situations, he can go either side of the defender which makes him dangerously unpredictable.

This unpredictable two-footedness makes him especially useful against teams that sit back in a low block, Doku is able to drag markers away from their defensive lines and in doing so, creating space for his team-mates around him.

The last time City bought such a proficient dribbler was when they bought Grealish from Villa, who in the 20-21 Premier League season, completed the second most progressive carries in the league, only behind Adama Traore for that metric according to Opta.

Back to Doku, dribblers of his ilk are usually erratic with their output, the touch can be a bit too heavy or the final product can be a let-down. Those concerns are less apparent with Doku, whose first touch is excellent and even better is his decision making in attacking areas.

Control as well as dynamism

Knowing when to retain the ball or when to take a risk in going forward, the Belgian is one step ahead of the opposition.

Ligue 1 is a highly physical environment to play in, and especially more daunting for a dribbler, but Doku is comfortable in absorbing challenges and is capable of executing at a high-level even under seemingly immense pressure.

Defending Doku at times means that opposition teams are having to double up on him, which creates room for his team-mates, whose movements he is able to find more often than not will delicately weighted passes.

Another thing to note about Doku is his ability to turn on the ball away from pressure and carrying into space, he can be lightning quick in execution of his dribbles and equally his tackles as well.

Doku’s ball carrying ability and the progressive nature of his style of play is evidenced in the numbers. A whopping 7.06 progressive carries averaged per 90 last season according to Opta, as well as 4.97 progressive passes on top of that.

This was evident against Metz this season in his first league game, he stole the ball back from a defender just as it was about to go out for a goal-kick, he had no time to react to Doku’s pressure.

The Belgian is now starting to show the output you would expect from his talents, scoring six goals in the league last season, whilst averaging 0.53 non-penalty expected goal involvements (xGI) per90. The goal and assist tallies from him will no doubt improve in the seasons to come but his greatest asset will always be his 1v1 ability and ball-carrying.

This is all high praise and isn’t to say that Doku is not without his flaws, he has room to grow in possession, but that growth will come with time and consistent minutes on the pitch, which brings us nicely onto the concerns that come with him.

Fitness the only concern

For all the brilliance he has shown so far on the pitch, the problem is that he hasn’t been able to do it often. At least not as often as he’d like.

The last time Doku started more than 20 league games was in his first season at Rennes in the 20-21 campaign. So, there are legitimate injury concerns with him and he’ll need time to settle into the pace of the Premier League and its unforgiving nature.

The talent is there for all to see with Doku, but if the Belgian can translate his electrifying style of play into Guardiola’s elite level set-up, then it might be game over for full-backs.

Keep your eyes peeled for Doku on the flanks, blink and you’ll miss him.

Follow @NinadB_06

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