Jeremy Doku is shining in new Man City role after Pep Guardiola talks
Jeremy Doku is thriving as Manchester City's new supersub after talks with Pep Guardiola to see how he could be more effective.
Doku, 21, had talks with his new manager after an underwhelming debut for the Premier League champions at home to Fulham. Guardiola urged the Belgian to be more confident in his own game and it brought instant rewards with Doku producing a man-of-the-match performance to bag City three points at West Ham.
Doku has had an encouraging first season in English football but has found himself increasingly resigned to the bench after struggling to find his best form again after an injury kept him out over Christmas. His only three starts in the last nine games have come in the FA Cup against Newcastle and the league against Villa and Luton.
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However, the summer signing has been handy off the bench against Real Madrid and Chelsea to give opponents a different challenge to the one Jack Grealish poses. Twice in a week, Doku has come on and made a positive impact for his team.
Guardiola explained at Wembley that he had held more talks with the player to get to the bottom of why the youngster wasn't able to perform as well as a substitute as he was as a starter. Thankfully, there have been more signs of progress in recent weeks.
"Jeremy against Madrid was unbelievable," said Guardiola. "Jeremy has made a step.
"When he arrived, after West Ham, I was like 'Oh my God, unbelievable player' and until his injury he was at a top level. Always when he came from the bench the impact was not good. From the start was good, the bench not
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