Jeremy Doku is in the process of putting the finishing touches on a £55million move to Manchester City but could instead quite easily have ended up wearing red some 35 miles away.
The 21-year-old winger, who has pace to burn with tricks and a penchant for embarrassing isolated markers in one-on-one situations, is having a medical at the City Football Academy.
Pep Guardiola felt he needed something different out wide, and after looking at Michael Olise at Crystal Palace among a few others, settled on the Belgian from French club Rennes.
Liverpool wanted him first, though. Anderlecht, where Doku made his professional debut at the age of 16, were flooded with scouts from everywhere who arrived in Brussels to watch a raw talent with a big future. Chelsea and Arsenal were interested but Liverpool went the extra mile.
‘I went with my mum and dad, and we were given a tour of the stadium, the training ground, even the school I would go to,’ Doku has said.
‘They gave me a signed Mohamed Salah shirt, and I met the players — Simon Mignolet because he was Belgian, Georginio Wijnaldum from Netherlands. I was able to discuss with Jurgen Klopp, Steven Gerrard, too. We looked at some videos and spoke about the development.
‘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”.
‘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.’
So the Liverpool move never happened. Doku, who grew up in the small district of Borgerhout in Antwerp with an older brother and two
Read on m.allfootballapp.com