Meunier’s Brazil nuts about Doku
CITY STAR CAN BE AS GOOD AS NEYMAR
BELGIUM defender Thomas Meunier reckons Manchester City signed the next Neymar when they snappedup the lightning-fast winger Jeremy Doku.
Meunier, the 32-year-old right-back who now plays for Turkish club Trabzonspor, spent three years as a team-mate of Neymar’s during his spell at Paris Saint-germain (below).
And he recalls that the Brazil forward was a nightmare to play against even in training.
Now Meunier is backing his Belgium team-mate Doku to reach the same heights as the Al Hilal ace, despite having made an inconsistent start to his Etihad career following a £55million arrival from Rennes last summer.
Meunier, who will be tasked with keeping the Three Lions attack quiet when Belgium visit Wembley for the international friendly on Tuesday night, said: “Doku has so much talent – and so much selfconfidence to go with it.
“He has not quite yet reached the level of Neymar, who is still the only player who could make me wince on the training pitch.
“I don’t get a headache like that playing against
Doku. Well, not yet!
But I really don’t rule it out that he will reach that Neymar level one day.”
Doku burst onto the scene at the Etihad after being recruited to replace the creativity of Riyad Mahrez.
Despite an individualistic style that doesn’t fit Pep Guardiola’s usual requirements, his form was so electric that Jack Grealish was forced to accept a fight to win his place in the team.
The 21-year-old Belgian’s form has dipped in recent weeks, though he still gives the Premier League champions the kind of unpredictable threat defenders hate.
Threat
Doku and PSV Eindhoven’s brilliant 20-year-old flier Johan Bakayoko have given Belgium a new devastating threat from the flanks in the wake of Eden Hazard’s retirement.
Kevin De Bruyne is 32 and will miss the game against England through injury. Jan Vertonghen is 36 and Romelu Lukaku 30.
But Meunier thinks that another Golden Generation could be about to emerge for
Belgium. He said: “I was always calm and quiet as a young player. But this kid Doku and Bakayoko don’t know the word stress.
“To me they both look as if they have been at the top level for years.
“Of course, that is not a bad thing at all. In training, we played a game and Bakayoko was telling me where to run. That’s class.
“There are fewer big names playing for Belgium these days, but there is a lot of quality.
“I am not saying we will win the European Championship this summer.
“But I do dare to say with certainty that we won’t go out in the group stages. The future looks bright.”
In the short term Belgium’s Italy-born coach Domenico Tedesco will be without Thibaut Courtois, as Real Madrid’s former Chelsea keeper is currently recovering after knee surgery.
Maybe in the long term as well – Courtois stormed out of the squad and threatened to retire from Belgium duty last summer after being overlooked as standin captain when De Bruyne was ruled out of qualifiers against Austria and Estonia.
Meunier added: “I wasn’t in the dressing room at that time.
“It’s between Thibaut and the coach, but I don’t believe any door was closed.”