Jeremy Doku to Liverpool Fell Through After Being Told Not to Join by Club Legend
Jeremy Doku's move to Liverpool never materialised after the winger had a chat with a club legend.
During the 2023 summer transfer window, Doku left French side Rennes for Manchester City in a deal worth a reported fee of £55 million.
Since then, the Belgian has made 100 appearances across all competitions, scoring 17 goals.
Last weekend, Doku was the star of the show as he scored a brilliant goal during City's 3-0 win over Liverpool in the Premier League.
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Although he is now starting to show why Pep Guardiola brought him to the Etihad Stadium, it has been revealed that Doku could've been playing for Liverpool.
Back in 2018, Liverpool reportedly came close to a deal to buy Doku from Anderlecht, with then-Reds boss Jurgen Klopp having been permitted to talk to the player personally.
To lure Doku to Anfield, Liverpool pulled out all the stops, including meetings with then under-18s boss Steven Gerrard, Gini Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane.
However, Doku later revealed that Mane did little to convince the then-15-year-old of joining the Reds, instead telling him there was no need to rush his development.
He said to Ouest-France: "My 16th birthday was coming up, the age you can sign a pro contract. A lot of teams came to see me - Liverpool was the most concrete interest but there was also Arsenal and Chelsea.
"I went with my mum and dad, and we were given a tour of the stadium, the training ground, even the school I would go to. They gave me a signed Salah shirt, and I met the players."
Doku added: "I was able to discuss with Jurgen, Gerrard too, we looked at some video moments, and he spoke about the development. We met players, (Simon) Mignolet because he was Belgian, Wijnaldum from the Netherlands. I talked a lot with Mane but we didn't really talk about football. We talked about everything.
"He told me that I was young, that I still had time… he wasn't trying to convince me or to say to me 'come here, you will succeed'."
After the latest international break, Doku and City will be back in Premier League action against Newcastle United at St. James' Park.
Marcus Chan