Belgian striker Jeremy Doku has credited Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola with helping him improve his game but said he had not heard from him during the European Championships in Germany.
Doku, 22, is one of the Belgian team’s emerging stars and comes off a successful first season in the Premier League, in which he won the title with City.
“Thanks to City, I know more about football. Now I play with better players, against better teams, and this has changed me. I have learned a lot from the good moments and the difficult ones,” he said in a press conference. press conference on Monday.
“Pep is very intense, he has a lot of passion. He is a perfectionist and when you play for City you become a perfectionist too. I had many moments where I thought I had done well and then he came and said to me: ‘You could have done this or that differently’. I learned a lot from him.”
“But he knows what kind of player I am. He chose me for my qualities. Not to change me. He trusts that I will make the right decisions.”
Doku said, however, that he had no contact with his club’s coach while he was in Germany defending the Belgian team at Euro 2024.
“He hasn’t texted me, but I’m sure he watches the games… or maybe not, because he watches a lot of games. Maybe he’s playing golf. But he cares about the players.”
This is the second European Championship for Doku, who was asked whether he had lost the element of surprise from the relative anonymity of three years ago due to his high-profile season in England.
“I was less known at the previous European Championships because I was 19 and I was just there to watch. Nobody would have predicted that I would play against Italy,” he said.
“Now the opponents are better prepared for me. But it doesn’t matter if the opponent knows what I will do,” he assured.
“I was also more stressed then. The fact that I have more experience now is an important factor.”
Belgium have drawn four times in Group E and will play their final match against Ukraine in Stuttgart on Wednesday.
At the tournament in Germany, Doku was used on both the right and left side of the attack in Belgium’s first two matches.
“I feel better on the left, but if I have to play on the right there’s no problem,” he said.
“It’s good that we created a lot of opportunities in the last few games. I hope we can win against Ukraine,” he added.
Source: Terra
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