Arsenal and Chelsea learn major transfer regret as Man City near dream 'next Eden Hazard' deal
Arsenal and Chelsea have been told exactly why they should have signed Jeremy Doku when they had the chance. The 21-year-old winger, who is reportedly set to join Manchester City from Rennes this summer for around £55million, was once heavily linked with a move to both the Emirates Stadium and Stamford Bridge – but a transfer collapsed.
In an interview with Ouest-France, as quoted by the Mirror, Doku recalled the time when Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea were all chasing his signature ahead of his 16th birthday. The Belgium international said: «My 16th birthday was coming up, the age you can sign a pro contract.
»A lot of teams came to see me — Liverpool was the most concrete interest but there was also Arsenal and Chelsea. I went with my Mum and Dad, and we were given a tour of the stadium (Anfield), the [Liverpool] training ground, even the school I would go to.
«They gave me a signed [Mohamed] Salah shirt, and I met the players,» added Doku. "I was able to discuss with Jurgen [Klopp], [Steven] Gerrard too, we looked at some video moments, and he spoke about the development.
«We met players, [Simon] Mignolet because he was Belgian, [Gini] Wijnaldum from Netherlands. I talked a lot with [Sadio] Mane but we didn't really talk about football. We talked about everything. He told me that I was young, that I still had time…
»He wasn't trying to convince me or to say to me 'come here, you will succeed'. So I preferred to be careful. I knew what my trajectory had to be. I knew what route I needed to take and I knew at that moment I needed to stay at Anderlecht."
After Mane urged Doku to delay a move to the Premier League, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all missed out on the youngster's signature. Fast-forward five years and the
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