Scout Report: Jeremy Doku

A player I’ve had my eye on for a season a so, and coming off his first international appearance for Belgium, in this scouring report we’re going to look at Anderlecht’s Jeremy Doku.

Player Profile

Name: Jeremy Doku

Age: 18 (Born 2002)

Position: Inside forward/winger

Club: Anderlecht

Rookie Year: 2018/19 Season

About The Player

If you’ve listened to the podcast before (and if you haven’t what are you doing?!), you’ve probably heard me mention the Belgian league as a top place to scout young talent.

Belgium have a bit of a reputation lately of developing quality players, and what was believed to be a bit of a ‘golden generation’ with players like Kevin de Bruyne, Lukaku, and Eden Hazard to namedrop a few stars of today.

Well, throughout that time, the league has also been developing a new wave of young starts from Belgium and abroad. Jeremy Doku is, in my opinion, the best young prospect in Belgium right now.

Especially considering Jonathan David is in France now. But I’ll be covering him in a report once there’s a decent sample size at his new club.

Last season, at only 17, he didn’t start every game for Anderlecht. In fact, he only played 21 games and started 14, but in those minutes he did average 0.51 non-penalty expected goals and assists per 90 minutes. Which is very promising for a teenager playing in a good league, and in a team that had some difficulties throughout the season. Last season Anderlecht had Vincent Kompany join from Manchester City as a captain/coach for the club, and it was a bit of a shambles from day one.

Anderlecht play a 4-2-3-1, which usually includes Doko, a right footer, playing on the left and cutting inside slightly to play teammates in. However, he is also capable of playing on the right as you can see from his heat map below.

Also, looking at the heat map, you can see he’s the type of winger that likes to hug the touchline and create space for teammates to run into. With Kompany being a Man City guy, he’s brought elements of that play to Anderlecht.

A large part of how Anderlecht attack is to have wingers advance with the ball then either play central players in, or try to find a cross or cut-back.

This pushes what is undoubtedly Jeremy Doku’s greatest strength right now… his dribbling. At only 17 Jeremy Doku was second in total dribbles (remember, he only started about half the games), and a whopping 13.22 dribbles per game, which was easily the top in Belgium.

To put that into some perspective, here are the top dribbles per 90 minute players in the top five European leagues. As you can see, he’s about dribbling as much as Neymar is per match.

And Doku isn’t just running into defenders and losing the ball either, Doku completes his dribbles at a 60% success rate. Which, for his usage rate is pretty exceptional.

In fact, if you look at every senior league around the world, the only other two players that both reach his dribbles per game with the same success rate or better is Adama Traoré from Wolves in the Premier League.

That’s it…

*Well, there’s also a dude named Everton Camargo, who is a 27 year-old Brazilian striker who plays in Hong Kong, but he’s not incredibly relevant in this conversation.*

A lot of Doku’s dribbles are in the attacking third of the pitch too as his heat map shows. He excels at making the most of tight spaces, and seems to love taking on defenders. Sometimes I’d say he likes taking on defenders a little too much at times when there’s an easier pass to be made. However, the ability is there.

These dribbles set up his crossing too, where he averages around five crosses a game, which for the type of chances that he creates is incredibly promising.

But Doku isn’t just a one-trick pony either. He can use his ability to keep possession and advanced passing range/vision to set up teammates for chances. Just look at this beauty of an assist (nice first touch by the striker too).

I would also say Doku is underrated off the ball too, being able to create space for himself to receive the ball and set up dribbles.

What’s Next For Jeremy Doku?

When it comes to his future, Doko has a few things on his radar.

1. Keep performing in Belgium

2. Cement a spot in the national team

3. Make a move to a bigger club

In regards to the first point, Doku has started the season well with some man-of-the-match performances.

Regarding Belgium. Doku made his first two appearances for the national team this September. Including his impressive debut, where he played the full 90 minutes against Iceland and was arguably the man of the match, scoring a goal and causing havoc down the left hand side of the pitch. In the next game against Denmark, Doku only played a few minutes as a substitute at the end of the game.

At this stage he is a squad player, but it’s an incredibly good sign that Roberto Martínez is giving him a look so early in his career.

I don’t think he’ll make the Euro 2020 squad or anything like that. But you never know… the fact the tournament has been moved back will give him some more time to improve. I’ll definitely keep an eye on his selection for Belgium going forward this year.

Regarding his move to a bigger club. There was talk of him moving to a big club like Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan, or Man United heading into the 20/21 season. So there is the likelihood that his next move will be to a big club.

I’m glad he didn’t move to a big club this season. For example, he’d be warming the bench pretty much every week at Liverpool this season, so I’m happy he’s getting some more game time in Belgium where he can continue to improve.

But, he will likely move after this season.

Jeremy Doku for Card Collectors

At the time of writing, the only sticker I can find for Jeremy Doku is the 19/20 season Belgium top flight sticker.

As far as his potential as an investment goes, I’m a fan. He plays an attacking and eye-catching brand of football and if he improves a few elements of his game - which he should being only 18 - he’ll be a start for Belgium going forward.

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