“World class”: Man City expert claims £55m star’s display was ‘as good as anything’ seen against Liverpool

Jeremy Doku is not a “25-goal-a-season player”, but he can still develop into a “world-class player” for Manchester City, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.

For the majority of this season, Erling Haaland has made the headlines for Man City with his ridiculous form in front of goal, but Doku was the standout performer for Pep Guardiola’s side as the Citizens secured a statement 3-0 home victory over reigning Premier League champions Liverpool last weekend.

In Guardiola's 1,000th game as a manager, Doku produced a dazzling man-of-the-match display, capped by a stunning long-range strike in the second half that put the game to bed for City and moved them up to second in the table, four points behind leaders Arsenal.

Doku has justifiably been accused of inconsistency since joining Man City from Rennes for £55m in the summer of 2023, but he certainly made his presence felt against Liverpool, arguably producing his best performance in a sky blue shirt on his 100th appearance for the club.

McInerney has compared Doku to past and present Man City wingers and believes that his performance against Liverpool was one the very best that he has ever seen from a wide player at the club.

“Doku’s performance was as good as anything I've ever seen from a Man City winger”

“There's been a lot of criticism of our wingers because I think, as City fans, we've seen some of the biggest highs of wide players in the Premier League,” McInerney told Sports Mole.

“We've seen Riyad Mahrez be absolutely spectacular, we've seen the flying, ridiculous, exciting pace of [Raheem] Sterling and [Leroy] Sane going forward, we've seen absolute genius wing-play from special footballers and they have been the level that Doku, Savinho and co have been held against.

“Maybe it's a little bit unfair at times because they're some of the greatest in Premier League history, but ultimately they're the standards that are set by former players, so it's going to be compared to him.

“That performance against Liverpool from Doku was as good as anything I've ever seen from a winger at Manchester City... what he achieved, the aggressiveness, I don't know how many times but he'd get the ball deep in his own half, he'd carry the ball and in four or five seconds he's beating two people in Liverpool's box.

“Ridiculous composure, like a one-man press-resistant machine who was just progressing the ball so far up the pitch. He won a penalty, he created multiple big chances, but the icing on the cake was when he scores a goal like that to seal the game.

“At 2-0, City were comfortable, but Liverpool had started to find a little bit of momentum, had a chance here and there, and then [Doku] just puts it in the top corner from 20-odd yards, something Sterling did a few times for City as well, or even Sane.

“He’s got this incredible dribbling ability. He's the best one-on-one dribbler in the world and I don't think there's any question about that. Ridiculous. Maybe the best one-on-two dribbler in the world! The amount of times Liverpool doubled up on him and they couldn't get near him anyway.

“Special” Doku compared to ex-Man City wingers Sterling and Sane

“That was a special performance from Jeremy Doku. I think it is fair to say he's still a little bit inconsistent, but what I feel about Doku is that the highs are getting higher and the gaps between his low and higher performances are getting smaller.

“He's still a little bit up and down. He had a slightly quieter month last month than he did prior to that, but those gaps are getting smaller... wingers are inconsistent, it's absolutely fine. I don't think we'd even notice those slight inconsistencies if we had a winger on the other side who was doing that.

“It was the same with Sane and Sterling. If one had a great game, sometimes the other would have a quiet one. You wouldn't really notice or care because the other picks it up if the other falls off a little bit.

“I thought Doku was brilliant. [His performance] showed his potential and it wasn't just the fact that he was dribbling past people as always, it was his freedom to drift centrally, to run at people, to create havoc.

“I love this new thing where the wingers go a bit more central. It's not exactly incredibly revolutionary, but it just works for this collection of players. That was a brilliant, world-class performance from Jeremy Doku. I don't think Conor Bradley slept last night. I would guess he had a very tough night.”

It is fair to say that Doku has been far from prolific in front of goal during his time at Man City; after scoring just three Premier League goals in both of his first two seasons at the Etihad, the Belgian’s superb strike against Liverpool was his first in the top flight this term after 11 matches.

Can Jeremy Doku become a world-class winger for Man City?

Although Doku might not be capable of notching up a substantial goal tally, McInerney believes that the tricky 23-year-old has “other incredible attributes” that can help him develop into a world-class winger at Man City.

“Guardiola said afterwards - and I think he's right - that he’s not sure if [Doku] would be a top goalscorer,” said McInerney. “I’ve seen a few fans be a little bit down on that. I don't think he's being cruel, I don't think he ever will be a 25-goal-a-season player, he just doesn't strike me as that, but that doesn't define him.

“Guardiola doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily make him less of a player, because some players just are. Sterling became that, but even Sane hasn't kept up those levels since he left City and it's just very hard to score that many goals.

“Those players (goalscoring winger) are basically strikers anyway. Sterling's movement was of old-fashioned second striker. He could have played in a 4-4-2 era as a 10 striker absolutely fine. You look at people like [Mohamed] Salah who’s just a wide forward, he cuts in and scores goals, but Doku's an old-school winger.

“I don't think he has to score loads of goals to be a world-class player. He has to score probably slightly more than he does, but I expect him to get 10-15 goals a season, and I think that's fine.

“I don't think it detracts from his game in the slightest. Maybe Guardiola's trying to challenge him a little bit there, but I think he's probably being honest and that doesn't detract from all the other incredible attributes that he's got.”

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