Kevin De Bruyne has said that one Manchester City teammate has improved a lot this season.
The midfielder completed his ninth season at the Manchester club by helping them win their sixth Premier League title in seven years, despite spending a large chunk of the campaign out injured.
Specifically, in 18 league appearances, De Bruyne found the back of the net four times and provided 10 assists along the way.
With the 32-year-old now set to take part in the upcoming European Championship with Belgium, the City star has been sharing his thoughts on one of his club and country teammates, who has just had a very significant season in his career.
Kevin De Bruyne drops verdict on Jeremy Doku’s debut season at Man City
Speaking in a recent interview with Het Nieuwsblad, De Bruyne had this to say about Jeremy Doku and his debut season at City.
He said: “Jeremy has gotten a lot better. It is hard to explain.
“Once such young players come to us, they get big eyes when they see our way of playing football. Or the way many opponents play against us. Constant double coverage, often with ten men behind the ball.
“Doku will not have experienced that often at Rennes. Jeremy handled it well. He started very strong with goals and assists.
“He then fell back a bit due to an injury, but in the end, he had good moments in a difficult match. Including against Chelsea, Man United, Real Madrid.”
Doku’s debut at City
During the previous summer transfer window, City paid £55m to sign the winger from Rennes.
Across his debut season at the Etihad Stadium, Doku started 20 of the 45 games he appeared in, scoring six goals and delivering 10 assists along the way.
In his 29 Premier League games, the £50k-a-week winger ended the campaign with more carries into the penalty area (147) than any other player in the division, as well as the second-highest total of successful take-ons (87).
Doku’s overall performances earned him a strong season rating of 7.24/10 from WhoScored, making him the fifth-highest-rated player in the City squad.
With all of that in mind, we feel that the 22-year-old has had a successful debut season with City, which makes it easy to see why De Bruyne has been impressed by what he’s seen as well.