While in Anderlecht's academy as a teenager who was struggling to combine the rigours of school and professional football, Jeremy Doku completed a diploma in media and communications. It is with little diplomacy that Doku now communicates that Manchester City's victory over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final last month served as a 'mental punch' to a team that until Wednesday night, had been at the Premier League's summit looking down on the rest for 200 days.
That is now City's place following three points at Burnley, with four weeks to go. Since lifting the first available trophy of the season, Pep Guardiola's side have scored 10 and conceded only one in a flawless four games. Arsenal, by contrast, have lost three of their five and will need to summon every ounce of spirit to overhaul City from here.
'The Carabao is a nice trophy and we knew if we won that game, it's going to be a punch towards Arsenal mentally,' Doku says. 'So we were just looking forwards. Obviously one game a week that changes also a lot. You have more time to prepare, more time to work on things. And we just have a pattern now that seems to work as well. We're into a good flow. We are confident and we're hungry. We know there's still a lot to play for and I think that's what drives us.'
The title still up for grabs, with Southampton waiting in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday. From nowhere, a domestic Treble is suddenly on. City's box of tricks believes a discussion between the players after Real Madrid knocked them out of the Champions League focused minds, with the message being that positives shone through as they took the game to the Spanish giants despite Bernardo Silva's early sending off.
Doku's reintroduction to the starting XI has felt like a factor in City's upturn. A balance on the wings, his output is improving and Wednesday at Burnley brought his sixth assist for an Erling Haaland goal this term, recording a career-best 13 overall. With Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki, there are now threats everywhere. Doku recognises that teams are now constantly doubling up on him.
'That is not a problem because that means another player is free,' he says. 'But I know one versus one, obviously that's my biggest quality. I'm not going to hide behind it. That's my biggest quality and that's my talent. But for sure, goals need to come as well. And I know that if I have goals, it's a different conversation that we're having.'
He is leaving no doubt of his self-belief, Doku. Add more goals, only 18 in almost three seasons in England, and he insists the conversation is how high he climbs on the list of the world's best. The Carabao Cup was Jeremy Doku's third major honour at City, after the Club World Cup and Premier League crowns in 2023-24 - his first season at the club. The way the 23-year-old describes how he can implement some easy wins sounds very much like a young Raheem Sterling when he tore defences apart in sky blue.
'I have to be more in the areas where you can score easy goals, tap-ins and stuff like that,' he adds and it really could have been coming from Sterling's mouth way back when. 'Sometimes in the game, you get… not distracted, but you don't realise sometimes what you're doing and don't realise that you're not in that position where you should be to just score the easy goals. When I look at all my goals, every time it is dribbling, every time I do it myself. I just want to score… even five tap-ins the season, that makes a big difference.'
'You should ask defenders what they think. What do they think? I'm sure that they would say that, obviously if I score goals, this is a different conversation that we have [now]. I believe [I can be the best] if I have goals. A winger needs to score. If I have those goals then I believe that I can get there for sure, 100 per cent.'
This is supreme confidence but with introspection from somebody who has risen from humble beginnings in Antwerp, learning his craft playing cage football with brother Jefferson, along the arches of Noordersingel bridge in the district of Luitenant Naeyaertplein. Doku set up Erling Haaland for Wednesday's 1-0 win over Burnley that took City top. So wedded to skills and nothing else at Anderlecht, Doku once ditched a 6km team jog to a training session while away on a camp in Bologna, organised because they had no transport. Instead, he hailed a taxi to the complex. As his coach, Benoit Haegeman, later launched into a rebuke, he calmly said: 'But coach, it's easier by car.'
Anderlecht knew what a talent they had. He truly broke through under Vincent Kompany, who clearly offered City rave reviews when they targeted him in 2023. Southampton had been at the table in the months before City firmed up their interest. Kompany was player-manager and physically gave as good as he got against a precocious teenager not fearful of embarrassing markers – even those who might be his boss.
'I remember even in Anderlecht when we were speaking about City and everything, he always said that he sees me playing in a team like this,' Doku remembers. 'At that point, I didn't know. I didn't see myself here because I still had some growth to do. But he always mentioned it to me, and so I don't think it's a coincidence I'm here.' Maybe one day they will be reunited.
