Manchester City fell by the wayside last season. An upswing in form toward the end of the campaign saw Pep Guardiola’s side salvage Champions League football.
It was a great shock for the four-in-a-row Premier League champions, and some even clamoured for Guardiola to step down. But the legendary manager has picked his outfit back up, refashioning them into title challengers once again.
Kevin De Bruyne left at the end of his contract, but the likes of Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders have joined winter recruits such as Omar Marmoush in defining a new age at the Etihad.
Man City’s tactical brand has changed, and no mistake. While an averseness to dribbling was never an accurate description of Pep’s vision, there’s no doubt a fresh emphasis has been placed on his side’s dribbling.
Pep's dribbling renaissance at Man City
Often has Guardiola been criticised for numbing the pulse of his ball carriers, Jack Grealish being a case in point. While it’s true that the sum of the Spaniard’s system is greater than its individual parts, it is a machine of many different dimensions, and fleet-footed brilliance has always been a part of that.
In the past, wingers such as Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane played instrumental roles in establishing City’s early meteoric success, the bedrock of a dynasty that rivals any across English football history.
Sane, in particular, was an incredible dribbler with searing speed, especially before an ACL injury suffered in 2019, which forced the German to reinvent himself somewhat.
Praised by Guardiola for his athleticism and “incredible quality”, Sane, now at Bayern Munich, is fondly remembered by the Sky Blues, with that particular brand of electric-paced dribbling hard to replicate.
Signing stars like Rayan Ait-Nouri and Cherki this summer underscores Pep’s desire for a faster brand of dribbling in his Citizen side once again.
Sane might be a one-of-a-kind type of attacker, but there are similar variations with skillsets perfect for Guardiola’s teachings. Pep knows his stuff, and he might have found not just a belated superstar replacement, but someone who might actually be even better than the former City winger.
Man City's ball-carrying superstar
There’s only one man in question here: Jeremy Doku. The Belgian winger has been in fine fettle indeed across the opening weeks of the campaign, with talent scout Jacek Kulig noting he has “taken his game to a whole new level”.
Man City signed the dynamic wideman from French club Rennes for about £55m in 2023, but his first two terms in the Premier League have been characterised by an ebb and flow in the final third, scoring three times each year.
However, creativity has always been one of the 23-year-old’s strongest suits, and he’s married that with a new level of completeness and gusto with has borne dividends across these early weeks.
Three assists from six Premier League matches is good going, but Doku’s skill and explosiveness on the ball have been things to behold; now, there’s a new confidence and clarity about his performances.
It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Doku ranks among the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and successful take-ons per 90 (data courtesy of FBref), but he’s also in the top percentile for shot-creating actions, underlining his effectiveness when entering the danger area.
Shot-creating actions are pieces of play that lead to a shot. These include moments such as a pass, take-on or foul being drawn.
And this season, he leads the way in the Premier League, more accurate when progressing the ball than his attacking rivals.
Jeremy Doku
54.5%
4.3
Mohammed Kudus
48.0%
4.1
Estavao
47.8%
4.0
Noah Okafor
43.5%
3.9
Rico Henry
77.8%
3.7
Might City have one of the finest dribblers in Europe? Undoubtedly. In fact, pundit Adrian Clarke has even gone as far as to claim that Doku is “one of the best dribblers in Premier League history”.
Valued at around £58m by Football Transfers, Manchester City haven’t quite got bang for their buck from a financial standpoint yet, but Doku is only 23, remember, and is showing all the signs of incremental growth which has not yet reached full bloom.
He’s the real deal, and if he maintains this level, he might even eclipse Sane and the like as the best dribbler across the entire Guardiola era at Manchester City.
