In our view, Manchester City wideman Jeremy Doku should not be getting as many touches of the ball as he did against Chelsea.
On Saturday, Malo Gusto largely managed to tame the £55.5 million (Sky Sports) man.
While it is perfectly acceptable for wingers to have the odd game where a full-back gets the better of them, a problem for City was how many touches of the ball Doku was getting in the first place.
Manchester City speedster Jeremy Doku should not be getting as many touches of the ball as he did against Chelsea
According to Sofascore, the Belgian international had 102 touches of the ball, which was more than any other attacker Pep Guardiola fielded on the day.
For context, the figures for Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland were 100, 78, 60 and 27 respectively.
In a game where Manchester City were losing 1-0 to Chelsea during their eventual 1-1 draw for much of the contest, it was bizarre to witness Jeremy Doku being handed as much responsibility as he had on his shoulders.
Considering City have the luxury of having Kevin De Bruyne at their disposal, who is arguably the best creator in the world, for him to be less involved than Doku was a shock to say the least.
The same can be said about Phil Foden, who is a better creative force than the 21-year-old and a superior player to him in general.
However, everything Manchester City did going forward against Chelsea went through Jeremy Doku instead of their two best creators, as the youngster constantly reverted to his natural instinct of trying to take on his man.
Despite Malo Gusto giving him a tough time from minute one, the former Rennes winger remained persistent and when he managed to beat him, his final ball left a lot to be desired, which is a consistent flaw in his game so far.
With Jeremy Doku clearly not being the best player at Manchester City, one wonders why the attack flowed through him against Chelsea.
As exciting a talent as Doku is, it has always been known that he still has lots of room to improve to develop into a world-class player.
The same cannot be said for Phil Foden and mainly, Kevin De Bruyne, who is one of, if not the best player in the world.
Going forward, it might be high time to reduce Doku’s touches of the ball and put the same responsibility on either De Bruyne or Foden.
Joining the treble-winners in the summer of 2023, Jeremy Doku should be made to feel as a part of an elite side and not the fulcrum of it.
