Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was pleasantly surprised by winger Jeremy Doku after the latter’s excellent performance against West Ham on Saturday.
City were behind in the first half after a header by James Ward-Prowse, however Doku scored his first goal for the club to start a comeback and eventually helped the team win 3-1. Doku joined City from Stade Rennais in the summer.
“When you buy a player like him for four or five years – I don’t know how many years we signed him for – we have to be patient,” Guardiola said.
“I will be honest, I didn’t expect him to play for Man City the way he did today! Against Fulham he was deeper and close to Kyle [Walker] so today he was higher.
“There are processes he has to learn and all the time we are there to help him but he has to say, ‘I have to be myself as a player’.”
Guardiola returned to the touchline after missing last two games before the international break. He underwent a routine operation on a back problem last month.
“I was in Barcelona when Jeremy arrived and I had the feeling that maybe he was a little shy in his first game,” Guardiola added.
“He’d just joined us, had two or three days’ training with a team that had won the Treble and we spoke about this – I told him to use his quality as a winger - one on one or one v two, if you have the feeling, go.
“From the first minute he was incredible, aggressive with determination and arrived many times on the byline.
“I’m really pleased because we thought the quality was there, and he has started to prove it.”
Under Guardiola, City won the treble last season with title wins in the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League.
It was only the tenth occasion a European side has won a treble, with City joining Celtic (1967), Ajax (1972), PSV Eindhoven (1988), Manchester United (1999), Barcelona (2009 and 2015), Inter Milan (2010) and Bayern Munich (2013 and 2020).
City won their first trophy of the current season after lifting the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in the Club’s history. Guardiola’s team came back from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, before defeating Sevilla 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out in Athens
