The summer time switch window is the place all groups do their main rebuilding, spending forks of cash to enhance their squad. Nonetheless, each workforce all the time ponders one query when signing a sure participant: how a lot time will he take to completely combine into the squad, even when he’s the proper one? Will he begin to hit the bottom working from the beginning and carry out at his greatest? If the participant is Jeremy Doku, then the reply is an emphatic sure.
Signed over the summer time for a payment of £55.5 million from Ligue 1 membership Rennes, Doku was anticipated to be the sufficient alternative for the departing Riyad Mahrez. Nonetheless, nobody might have predicted that he would turn into their best-performing participant from the beginning of the season.
The harm to Kevin de Bruyne additionally performed its function because it meant that gamers in midfield and assault needed to take additional accountability to negate the affect of the Belgian’s absence. And Doku has undoubtedly proven the largest enchancment bamboozling the opposition’s defence together with his good footwork and dribbling.
So, what do the stats say about Jeremy Doku and the way he grew to become so good in such a brief interval?
Jeremy Doku: Stats within the 2023-24 seasonÂ
Jeremy Doku’s signing differed from most summer time transfers as a result of he joined the week after the Premier League had begun. His signing was solely confirmed on August 24, and after sitting on the bench for the primary sport, he made his debut in opposition to Fulham.
Since then, he has featured in each sport within the league, with 5 appearances within the UEFA Champions League. In simply 17 appearances, he has scored three objectives and offered six assists. That is astonishing for a participant in his first season at a membership already stacked to the brim with attacking expertise.
Within the 11 video games, he has solely performed 697 minutes however nonetheless tops the chart by way of Anticipated Menace (xT) with a ranking of two,92, forward of Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah who has performed 447 minutes extra. In truth, after Doku, the following 4 gamers have all performed greater than 1000 minutes.
One other fascinating facet of his xT ranking is that Doku may be good at dribbling with an xT ranking of 1.64, second solely to Raheem Sterling. His xT from passing can also be 1.28, among the many league’s high ten.
Because of this he’s as harmful together with his passing as his dribbling, making it troublesome for the opponent to cease him.
When watching Metropolis’s sport, it turns into clear that Pep Guardiola has given a particular function to Doku: to obtain the ball and use his good abilities to create possibilities for the workforce. And he’s good at it, which is why he has probably the most profitable dribbles within the league.
His sport in opposition to Liverpool is an ideal instance of that. Within the sport, Doku was explicitly tasked with receiving and shifting the ball ahead. Information from Soccerment present that he had a complete xT ranking of 0.51 (0.2 from passing and 0.31 from dribbling). Doku additionally tried 15 dribbles, finishing 12 of them, and was a relentless menace for Trent Alexander Arnold.
Even Opta information confirmed that Metropolis had a transparent plan to feed Doku the ball and transfer the play ahead from the left wing.
Operation feed Jeremy Doku was in full impact on Saturday: pic.twitter.com/Duci6LFIWu
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) November 27, 2023
Jeremy Doku evaluationÂ
Doku’s heatmap from the present season reveals a really clear image of how the attacker operates. The teen spends most of his workforce within the opposition’s half. Nonetheless, as quickly as he will get close to the purpose, he swiftly strikes into the within channel and enters the field. In truth, his heatmap is eerily just like Mohammed Salah, who additionally likes to drift inside to both shoot or go the ball.
Doku can also be a participant who all the time seems to be to maneuver the ball ahead. For this, he’s even taking large dangers. It is because he has an infinite perception in his abilities, such that if he tries it repeatedly, he can get previous his opponent most of the time.
His sport in opposition to Bournemouth confirmed how devastating he might be if his teammates rise to his degree. Doku offered 4 assists in that sport. Three objectives had an Anticipated Objective (xG) of 0.12, 0.12, and 0.14, which had been fairly low on the metric. Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and Manuel Akanji scored these objectives. Since two of them are world-class attackers, they managed to take these possibilities.
It’s nonetheless early days for Doku, and underneath the tutelage of Pep Guardiola, he’ll solely get higher. All through his time at Manchester Metropolis, the Spaniard has been obsessive about bettering an already world-class squad. Final season, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland had been the highest creators and purpose scorers, respectively. Nonetheless, Guardiola doesn’t like the concept of relying on a single participant, nonetheless good he may be. This season, Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku have been given roles the place they are often dependable backups, and with de Bruyne injured, Doku has taken the function. And with the Belgian set to return later within the season, we would nonetheless be capable of see the perfect of Jeremy Doku.