Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku outlines roadmap to becoming the best in the world | OneFootball

Manchester City attacker Jeremy Doku believes he can become the world’s greatest winger if he improves his numbers in the final third.

The 23-year-old has come leaps and bounds since he joined Pep Guardiola’s troupe from Ligue 1 side Rennes in 2023 for £55.4 million, contributing directly to 53 goals in 125 appearances for the eight-time Premier League champions.

Doku has been a huge help to City’s title charge this term, most recently creating the only goal of the game against Burnley when he slipped Erling Haaland through for the winner – before launching a thrilling FA Cup semi-final comeback win days later against Southampton with a crucial equaliser after 82 minutes at Wembley.

How Doku has raised his game this season

He also went on to assist Nico Gonzalez‘s long-range winner as Manchester City retained their hopes of completing a domestic treble – a second under Guardiola – this season, having lifted the Carabao Cup in March and set up a titanic title race finish with Arsenal.

Doku’s recent performance at Wembley off the bench was evidence that the forward has raised his standards, not least because he has contributed to more goals this season than he did with the same amount of appearances in the 2024-25 campaign. 

So what is it that Doku needs to become the best? By some indication, Raheem Sterling seems to be the prototype of such a relentless talent but the attacker believes there is still one hurdle to conquer.

A winger needs to score to become the best, says Doku

“I believe (I can be the best) if I have goals,” Doku said in an interview with Mail Sport’s Jack Gaughan. “A winger needs to score. If I have those goals then I believe that I can get there for sure, 100 percent.

“When I look at my goals, every time it is dribbling, every time I do it myself. I just want to score – even five tap-ins (per) season, that makes a big difference.

“You should ask defenders what they think. What do they think? I’m sure that they would say that, obviously if I score goals, this is a different conversation that we have.”

City Xtra’s View

To some, it may sound ambitious but if there is one thing to notice about the way Guardiola’s players act, it is that the standards never drop even if performances on the pitch do. 

For Doku, his humble beginning, which involved playing cage football most days, have moulded him into an attacking talent whose dribbling is irrepressible. 

That was helped by Vincent Kompany’s coaching at Anderlecht in Belgium before he eventually arrived at the Etihad Stadium, where he is yet to look back.