While Jack Grealish was asked to tone down the flare and inspiration that made him so captivating upon signing for City, Jeremy Doku has seemingly been given free rein to do whatever he likes out on the flanks. It&aposs produced excellent results.
Doku has dazzled supporters and already become a firm fan favourite. It&aposs no surprise given his unpredictable nature and the magic he can produce in a flash of speed hurricane of stepovers. An electricity can be heard around the Etihad whenever he picks up the ball and faces off with his defender, the sound of thousands of plastic chairs flinging back as people rise to their feet.
Even Pep Guardiola has been left bereft at times, floored by how well Doku has taken to life at City when other wide forwards have typically taken a year to settle in to the manager&aposs methods. Yes, and not just the first time this season, Guadiola said when asked if he was impressed with Doku&aposs contribution after he scored one and provided four asissts in the 6-1 win over Bournemouth.
In his first game against Fulham he was so shy, but at West Ham he started to show his incredible skills. He played really good there and all the games here at home he played fantastic.
But hes not just one against one and one against two. He surprised all of us – he&aposs a great footballer. He reads every action for exactly what he has to do. His quality is close to the box. Always we talk about that.
Go, dribble, and go because its difficult to find a player today with the ability to play in small spaces and he is one of the fastest players over five metres.
It&aposs incredible how he changes the rhythm in five metres. After that when he&aposs not able to dribble, he takes good decisions and I&aposm impressed by that. That&aposs why for me hes a great, great footballer. Even defensively when he goes against an opponent hes not going to be beaten easily and we are really pleased.
Hes just 21 and Txiki again made an incredible action by bringing him here and hopefully hes happy and he can be here for many years. Am I surprised? Being honest a little bit. Always we have nice expectations. He creates something for the crowd.
When he takes the ball and goes everybody is excited, and me too. Something is going to happen, and it happens.
To have this threat up front with Erling and Julian, playing really well and Phil and the other ones its so important. Today Erling played 45 minutes and didnt score, and we were able to score six goals, so its good.
His display against the Cherries earned him a start the following weekend against a big side in Chelsea. Guardiola has tended to start Grealish on the left in such matches thanks to his superior defensive and ball-retention abilities and it was easy to see why against the London club.
