Jeremy Doku is absolutely ace

As someone who exclusively deals in hyperbole and overreactions, I feel well at ease calling Jeremy Doku the next great winger in European football. Despite the term often being used as an insult, he’s somewhat of a poundland Messi. For most, being a Poundland/knockoff version of someone would be offensive but for an 18 year old to be showing frequent flashes of the greatest football to ever play the game is quite the accolade.

As stated before, this is hyperbole in its most distilled, beautiful form. Setting aside the fun of mad speculation and wild guessing for a moment — Doku is an incredible talent. Whilst comparisons to Messi are pretty much par for the course for any skillful player who’s so much as heard of scoring from a wide forward position, Doku posseses many of the more important aspects required from any great forward.

Chiefly among these is his composure. Clichéd as it is to say about young talent, for a player who’s only a month older than me the maturity and patience he can show on the ball is wonderful. Compared with Anderlecht’s other top young prospect Yari Verschaeren (someone who Doku appears to have leapfrogged in terms of attention, both within sports media circles and the club’s hierarchy), Doku looks closer to the finished product.

He’s got pace, not breakneck pace by any means, but pace he uses with a genuine intelligence. Sudden bursts of acceleration can see him blitz past three defenders on the edge of the box with the ease you’d expect from an established veteran, runs to the corner to hold up play (often just to be dispossessed when no passing options are presented to him by the absolute fridges Vercauteren spent his manegerial carrer plopping down in midfield) are emblematic of a brilliant understanding of the game situation and his role in the team.

Mentality aside, he’s stronger on the ball than lots of other wingers, using a powerful frame and low centre of gravity to shield the ball from taller defenders. His most impressive on the ball attribute though would have to be his control, he makes sure that everyone watching knows that he knows how good he is on the ball and how easily he can manipulate it. Older, stronger, savvier players look worried when they face him, unsure of how to approach a player with multiple ways of beating them, knowing that he could go past them if they overcommit but could play the simple pass and build up an attack if left alone. He’s an attacker you’d hate to play against.

It’s worth noting too that his finishing isn’t all that bad either, he already takes shots with both feet and, whilst by no means the club’s main goalscoring threat, can still slot a ball home with enough ease to pose a consistent threat from scoring positions.

Despite his age and serious inexperience (he’s come out of the blue for many people, myself included, appearing only 6 times at club level before the 2019/20 season) he has been a crucial part of Anderlecht’s team this season — starting every game, being trialed on both the left and right flanks as the club tries to find his optimal position.

Doku’s emergence and Dimata’s return have turned Anderlecht from a decent defensive team that could create some good chances but who could never convert into a team with a relentless attack, goalscoring ability and an almost grotesque level of dynamism and irritating habit of drawing fouls from frustrated defenders (albeit one that simultaneously loses any semblance of defensive ability once the timer ticks over the 80th minute). Perhaps the biggest question for this new look squad is Verschaeren’s role in the whole affair. The only logical step is a big money move to Brighton for him to evolve into the next Toni Kroos under Graham Potter.

Doku already has the potential to be a transformative player at many good sides, he’s doing it already for Anderlecht, but give him a few years and you could well be seeing him doing it at the highest level. Either way, no matter the future success he may or may not have (I’d be a fool to treat it as a given) you can’t deny that he’s an absolute bloody pleasure to watch play.