Jeremy Doku is talking goals, different kinds of them. Manchester City could yet do a treble this season but Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton has a particular pertinence for a man aiming for a personal hat-trick. “I won a Carabao Cup, I won the Premier League so I want to win the FA Cup as well,” said a player who has set his sights on completing the set. After final defeats in each of the last two seasons, he is hoping this is a case of third time lucky.
But the last man to score in an FA Cup final for City – a consolation in the Manchester derby loss in 2024 – knows he will be judged by goals. Doku scored at Chelsea a couple of weeks ago. He has found the net against Liverpool and Napoli this season, too, suggesting he can be potent on the big occasion. But his season has only yielded four goals in 40 club games, just one of them in his last 24 appearances.
Many a tormented right-back can testify that Doku is among his trickiest opponents. A manager, too. Arne Slot, citing the Belgian’s 12 dribbles in last season’s Etihad Stadium game against Liverpool and seven this season, branded him “unstoppable”. Doku is grateful. “I appreciate those compliments,” he said. “I just don’t try to use that as my fuel, as my drive.” But while he has made the most dribbles in the Premier League this season – a category that almost seems a private contest with himself – he is aware some of his other numbers are less impressive.
“Key passes and assists, I feel like that area that’s all right,” he explained, and only Rayan Cherki has more than his 11 assists for City this season. “I feel like the goals is more….I have to be more in the areas where you can score easy goals, tap-ins and stuff like that. Sometimes in the game, you get, not distracted, but you don’t realise sometimes what you’re doing and you don’t realise that you’re not in that position where you should be to just score the easy goals. That makes a big difference.”
A predecessor on City’s left flank, Raheem Sterling, became prolific in part by getting those tap-ins, often at the far post. City’s wingers in the Pep Guardiola years could be divided between those who scored goals – such as Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and the January signing Antoine Semenyo – and those, like Jack Grealish and Doku, who rarely did. Approaching the end of his third season at City, he still only has eight Premier League goals.
For a man with ambitions to be seen among the best wingers in the world, he knows it is not enough. “Obviously if I score goals, this is a different conversation that we have,” he said. “A winger needs to score. If I have those goals then I believe that I can get there for sure, 100 per cent.”
It is one reason why it is instructive to learn who Doku studied when he was growing up. They were all entertainers, if not all touchline-hugging wingers, but each had a productivity in front of goal. “I liked to watch Neymar,” he explained. “I like to watch, obviously [Lionel] Messi was a winger before. [Franck] Ribery, [Eden] Hazard, [Arjen] Robben, those were the wingers, Ronaldinho.”
Now Doku is among the most watchable players of his generation. His value to City is not just measured in his goal tally. “When I play now, there’s most of the time two defenders on me, which is not a problem because that means another player is free,” he said. “But I know one versus one, obviously that’s my biggest quality. I’m going to hide behind it.”
Pace runs in the family. His brother and father were quick. Within the City squad, Doku would back himself to win a race over 15 yards; but over 40, he admits, Abdukodir Khusanov would outstrip him. But his speed is allied with skill.
He is the dribbler supreme, a quality that gives him a uniqueness. Perhaps it helps him see off rivals for his place. Since he arrived, other potential wingers have joined, in Savinho, Semenyo and even Cherki. “That pushes you as well to become better,” said Doku.
Which, undeniably, he has. He was outstanding in autumn, his campaign perhaps peaking against Liverpool in November. But, if his goals are rarities, the numbers show City are better with Doku starting; they have averaged 2.38 points in the league games he has begun, only 1.88 when he has not.
His idiosyncrasies make him very different from some past Guardiola wingers, the midfielders who retained the ball. And yet a past City captain long felt he was destined for the Etihad. Doku played for Vincent Kompany in Belgium. “I remember even in Anderlecht when we were speaking about City,” he said. “He always said that he sees me playing in a team like this.”
But joining in 2023 was intimidating, and not because of the £55m fee. “It’s not easy because you come from Rennes,” he added, feeling an unknown quantity. “I’m sure that they didn’t watch a lot of my games in France, my team-mates. So maybe they didn’t know me. So you have to prove that I deserve to be here. Nothing will be given to you.” But as Jeremy Doku has proved himself a unique runner with the ball, it is safe to say they – and many an opposing defender – know who he is now.