'A Spectacular Player' - Doku custom made for Man City - USA Trending Blog
'A Spectacular Player' - Doku custom made for Man City - USA Trending Blog
Manchester City are close to completing the £55.4m signing of winger Jeremy Doku - but what kind of player are they getting?
The 21-year-old, who has 16 caps for Belgium and came through the ranks at Anderlecht before joining Rennes in 2020, is moving to the Premier League after three injury-hit years in France.
He takes the place of Riyad Mahrez, who moved to Saudi club Al-Ahli for £30m.
Since the start of last season he has completed more dribbles per 90 minutes than anybody in Europe's top five leagues.
"With his speed, power and technical ability he is custom-made for the Premier League," says Belgian journalist Claudo Reulens.
"The fans will love him, because he's a very spectacular player. There is always something happening when he is on the ball."
Doku is capable of playing on either wing, but the right side - where Mahrez played for the bulk of last season - is likely to be his home.
Jack Grealish has the left wing spot nailed down - and Phil Foden is likely to play centrally with Kevin de Bruyne currently sidelined.
Bernardo Silva, like Foden, can play centrally or out wide - with Julian Alvarez also capable of playing on the wing, although most of his games have been in the middle.
Doku played fewer minutes than any of them last season - with 13 Ligue 1 starts and 16 appearances off the bench - because of injury problems, but still managed six goals and two assists.
He netted against Metz on the opening day of this season.
Doku is more of a textbook winger than his new colleagues, or the man he is replacing, with over twice as many dribbles but fewer passes.
"He's very different to Mahrez," former Tottenham defender Ledley King told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.
"Mahrez was a slower, more jinky player that held on to the ball. Doku is a more dynamic player, who likes to attack on the outside.
"It's a little bit different to what we're used to seeing from City, normally they're a team who controls the ball and pass, pass until the ball's in the back of the net.
"I think Pep's always looking at how he can elevate his team from last season to this and what they can do a bit differently and add. There's no doubt he's a very skilful individual player who is gonna cause a lot of problems."
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