Manchester City have announced that they’ve signed versatile winger Jeremy Doku from Rennes in a £55.5m deal.
The Belgium international has signed a five-year deal with the Premier League champions.
The 21-year-old is seen as a replacement for Riyad Mahrez, who joined Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli for £30m last month.
Doku had been linked with a number of Premier League teams this summer, with West Ham having a bid rejected for him earlier this month.
“Manchester City are the best team in world football, so to be joining them is something very special for me and my family,” Doku told the Man City website.
“I am a young player with so much learning and improving to do. Working with Pep and his staff, and playing alongside these work-class players, will make me a much better player. I feel sure of that.”
But the ex-Anderlecht player has joined City to become their third major summer signing following the arrivals of Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic to take the treble winners’ spending to £163.1m.
“It is a lot of money for a young player who is still in the early stages of his career, but in terms of raw materials, you’ve got everything you could possibly want from an attacking player.
“Doku is absolutely rapid and beats players for fun. His stats in terms of goals and assists maybe aren’t where they could be but under a coach like Pep Guardiola you assume they will only get better. He has almost limitless potential.
“It’s a lot of money but you can understand why Manchester City feel he is the man to bring in.
“He’s a different kind of attacking player that Guardiola has at his disposal as he’s very quick and is a bit of a throwback winger. He can play on the left and on the right, where he is likely to feature more often for City.
“As a predominantly right-footed player he’s not someone who would then cut in field. He’s more about beating a full-back on the outside an getting to the byline to provide he cut-backs. He’s bring a pace, a directness and a dribbling ability that City don’t have in their squad currently.”
