- Jeremy Doku played brilliantly on Saturday
- Pep Guardiola offers praise
- Describes winger’s potential
Jeremy Doku has hit some brilliant form for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola is convinced he can turn this into long-term success.
The scoreline was goalless at the Etihad Stadium, with nothing to separate Man City from Brentford in a crucial Premier League clash.
Fears were growing that this would be another disappointing result for the Citizens, after a 3-3 draw against Everton five days earlier.
However, Jeremy Doku scored with a fantastic curled effort, which gave City the platform to go on and win the game rather comfortably.
It was the second successive match where the Belgian has been Man City’s standout playing, prompting a big claim from Pep Guardiola.
Jeremy Doku can become one of the world’s best
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Guardiola highlighted how Doku’s mentality is helping him to improve.
For this reason, the manager believes Doku could one day become as good as the best wingers in the world.
He said: ““It depends on your mentality. ‘I want to become one of the best wingers in the world’. Otherwise you’re in comfort zone, saying ‘it’s fine, it’s fine’.
“Jeremy has always had dribbles, work ethic, always tried. He said ‘no, I want to be one of the best’. That’s when you reach that level.
“For sure [he can reach level of Vinicius and Yamal]. He’s always accepted being pushed. That is so nice. We are really pleased. Not now, since he arrived,” Guardiola continued.
“Now he’s winning games, scoring goals, but he’s always been really, really good.”
Doku has to keep up his goal contributions
One area where Doku falls significantly short of Vinicius and Yamal is directly contributing to goals, as shown by his five goals and seven assists in the Premier League this season.
In contrast, Yamal has 16 goals and 11 assists in La Liga, while Vincius has managed 15 goals and five assists.
This is not a new problem for Doku. In fact, this is his highest scoring league campaign since he joined Man City.
Without scoring more goals, Doku is not going to be considered among Europe’s elite. It is therefore important that he makes his current form a normality.
Man City’s European success is key to Doku’s status
Being a top class player is all well and good, but playing for a team who are not winning the biggest competitions can be a cause for invalidation.
Take Harry Kane for example. The England captain is one of the greatest talents this country has ever seen. However, he was often underrated by fans and the media alike when he played for Tottenham Hotspur.
Additionally, there is the ongoing debate about who is better out of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Some would base this on their individual merits, but many choose Messi due to the fact Ronaldo has never won the World Cup.
Doku will find himself in a similar situation when it comes to the Champions League. City’s performances across the past couple of seasons have been very poor, harming the 23 year old’s chances of being categorised with the continent’s top wingers.
Therefore, the Sky Blues need to be making it past the last 16 stage next year and seriously competing for Europe’s most prestigious title.
