Man City have agreed a £55.5m deal to sign winger Jeremy Doku, which has seen Liverpool roll out the red carpet for him on several occasions.
Doku is set to become Etihad’s third signing this summer after Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic as an agreement has been reached with Rennes.
According to Sky Sports, the Manchester side will pay around £55.5m for the 21-year-old, who has emerged as one of Europe’s most exciting attacking talents. While this can’t be seen as a blow to Liverpool given the wealth of talent they can boast of in the final third, it didn’t happen without their own attempts to sign Doku.
In fact, the youngster has turned down a move to Anfield twice in the past, with the club’s first attempt coming in 2018. The winger’s father, David Doku, explained on a visit to Melwood how the club went to great lengths to entice his son to join.“Klopp explained how he saw Jeremy as a potential successor to Sadio Mane,” he told Het Nieuwsblad in 2020.“At the age of 16, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Ajax and PSV were interested. Then we visited clubs like Liverpool and Ajax.
My preference was for Liverpool. “Steven Gerrard showed us videos with tactical analysis. At the training complex, Mignolet, Mane and Wijnaldum came to talk to us. How we were welcomed there – damn!”Despite Liverpool’s progress and meeting the teenager with both legendary figures and compatriots, Doku chose to stay at Anderlecht.
He finally joined Rennes in 2020, but not before a new offer from Merseyside, the same winger told Het Nieuwsblad two years ago.”I did a lot of research first, wrote down all the positives and only then made a decision,” he explains. “I knew I wanted to take an intermediate step first. Going to a big club now would be too soon.“I still have a lot to learn and Rennes is the ideal place to do so.”As soon as they ask me if I regret it, I always say no, because if Liverpool came to see me when I was 15 and they love me, they will come back later, for sure. me to play well.”Even though Doku is primarily a right-winger and Ben Doak is Mohamed Salah’s only natural replacement at this stage, it’s no surprise that Liverpool haven’t pursued him again this summer. With Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota also firmly in power, priorities are higher elsewhere when it comes to recruitment.
Doku’s move to a ‘top club’ will instead be to Man City, where he will fill the void left by Riyad Mahrez after his move to Al-Ahli.
