Manchester City fans have been loving Jeremy Doku since he came to the club in the summer – and a quite remarkable statistic has now emerged about the electric winger.
Doku was City’s third signing of the summer after Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol, joining from Rennes for a reported fee of around £55 million.
Doku signed and the general feeling was that he would take some time to settle in as a young player and mainly make substitute appearances. It was suggested by French journalist Julien Laurens that his end product was not the best and that he would need time to develop.
But Doku having a small role has not really been the case so far.
After a bit of an underwhelming debut against Fulham, Doku has lit games up for City.
He’s drawn praise from supporters and has also really impressed Pep Guardiola, who has not hidden how pleased he’s been with the Belgian.
One of the most exciting things about Doku is his dribbling ability – and a very impressive stat has now come to light…
Jeremy Doku averaging significantly more dribbles per 90 than any other player at Manchester City since Pep arrived
City fans know that when Doku gets the ball, he is likely going to try and beat his man.
He is just so quick from a standing start, and often he leaves defenders trailing in his wake.
That electric pace helps him to be quite successful when taking players on, and it is little wonder it is usually always his first thought.
Doku’s tendency to dribble is clear, and now a very impressive stat has emerged.
According to statistics and data website WhoScored, Doku is averaging 4.9 dribbles completed per 90 in the Premier League at the moment.
This is easily the highest average in a league season from any City player under Guardiola.
Before Doku came to the club, Leroy Sane topped this metric. He had a completed dribbles per 90 average of 3.2 for the 2017/18 season.
Man City players must keep looking for dangerous Doku
This really is an incredible stat. Sane was known for being a top dribbler for City, but this just shows how prolific Doku is when it comes to dribbling.
Obviously, there is still so much football left to play this season so that value of 4.9 is likely to be different by the end.
But it’s clear that £50,000-a-week ace Doku loves to get the ball and drive at defenders. That is his game, and so the end-of-season value may not be too far off this.
Simply put, the City players need to be looking for him as often as possible. Especially against teams that are defending very deep.
Essentially that is what he’s been bought for – to unlock those stubborn defences. Pep signed ball carriers this summer to help City breach those tighter units.
In Doku, they really have landed a gem.
