The Dilemma of Jérémy Doku: Almost Joined Liverpool but Stayed With Anderlecht

History is littered with players who could have played in the opposing camp. In the case of Jérémy Doku, fate was close to being different. The best dribbler of the moment almost joined Liverpool and never played for either Manchester City or Anderlecht.

A missed meeting between the Red Devil and the Reds, whom he faces this Saturday in the Premier League clash, desired by the will of the Belgian but not only. The anecdote takes place in 2017. We find the majority of the protagonists there who will fight it out in a few hours.

A year before becoming the eighth youngest player to wear the purple jacket in the first team, the teenager is faced with a delicate dilemma. The great Liverpool of Jürgen Klopp is interested in him to the point of wanting to secure his services despite his 15 years.

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A significant meeting with Mané

”I was going to be 16 so this is the time when you can sign a professional contract. There are a lot of teams who came to see me, recalled the former Anderlecht player two years ago. Everyone talks about Liverpool because it was the most concrete but there were Arsenal and Chelsea in particular.”

However, it is at Melwood, Liverpool’s training center until 2020 before the move to Kirkby, where the winger goes to visit the facilities. “I was able to talk with the coach, Mané, Wijnaldum… Gerrard too. He even showed me videos of… me”

The connection passes directly between the Senegalese who paradoxically speaks to him more about life in general than about football in the Mersey club. “We talked about everything but not really football. He asked me my age and said: ‘You have to be nice to your mother’. “It was above all an exchange and a human relationship. He told me that I was young, that I still had time… It wasn’t to convince me or tell me: ‘Come here, you will succeed’.”

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Mané told me ‘you have to be nice to your mother'”

Ultimately, Doku will decide to stay in Nerpeede with the success we are experiencing. “I preferred to be vigilant. I knew what my path should be. That’s why I say that at 15, it became serious for me, because at that moment, I took a bit of a look at my career. I know which route I had to take and I knew that at that moment I had to stay in Anderlecht.”

Without any regrets. “And as soon as someone asks me if I regret it, I always say no. Because if Liverpool came at 15, if they like me, they will come back later, that’s for sure,” he said then.

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A decisive call from Lukaku

What he did not say during this interview is that Romelu Lukaku played a huge role in his choice. The scene takes place in Jean Kindermans’ office. “I told Romelu that it was the first time in history that I had difficulty convincing young people to stay at Anderlecht,” remembers the now emblematic ex-director of Neerpede to The Athletic.

“Klopp wanted to make Jérémy the successor to Sadio Mané, David Doku, the father, confided to us in 2020. For me, it was clear: I had to sign for Liverpool.”

Romelu Lukaku then convinces the prodigy to stay at Anderlecht in a video. “He spoke for a minute and a half, very directly, explaining why he had to stay. I am sure that this stimulated Jérémy’s father,” continues Kindermans.

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Lukaku’s call stimulated Jérémy’s father”

No offer from Liverpool this summer

Since then, have the Scousers come back to the attack as the 21-year-old had predicted? After 2020 where they expressed themselves again to Anderlecht, rumors of interest from the leaders of the six-time European champion reappeared last summer before Manchester City concluded the file. “They didn’t make an offer,” people around him told us.

A simple interest that didn’t go any further. At the risk of regretting it this Saturday afternoon.

2023-11-25 07:57:00
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