Pep Guardiola believes Jeremy Doku can climb to the level of Vinicius Jr and Lamine Yamal, a mark of how far the Manchester City winger has come since arriving from Rennes for £55.4m in August 2023. City face Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday, and Doku heads into it with five goals and five assists in 28 Premier League appearances this season.
Guardiola said City are “really pleased” with the 23-year-old and that he is now “winning games,” a phrase that reflects the change in how the club sees him. “Yeah, for sure,” Guardiola said when asked if Doku could reach the top bracket of attackers. “And always accept being pushed. Always accept that. And that is so nice. We are really pleased. Now he is winning games. But he has always been really, really good.”
The praise fits the player City thought they were buying. Doku was signed as a high-upside winger, but nearly three years later he is being discussed as a more complete threat, one whose direct running is beginning to decide matches rather than just excite crowds. That matters now because City are chasing a second trophy of the campaign, and Doku’s form has become part of that push.
He has long had a reputation for raw acceleration. Shaun Maloney said the one-v-one dribbling he sees now was the same in youth football, recalling that Doku would take the ball in his own half and drive 70 and 80 yards. Kylian Mbappe, who watched him during Doku’s first year at Rennes, went even further, saying he had never seen someone with so much explosivity in his first steps in his five years as a pro.
That tension between promise and delivery is what makes Doku’s season notable. For a player still just 23, the question is no longer whether he can beat a defender. It is whether he can do it often enough, and in the biggest moments, to shape trophies. Guardiola’s answer suggests the club already thinks the shift is underway, and Saturday offers the next test of whether Doku can keep turning his speed into results when Manchester City need it most.
