For a long time, Liverpool did their best to sign Jérémy Doku from Anderlecht.
The young winger even travelled to England to visit the infrastructures, where he was greeted by none other than Steven Gerrard when the Rangers manager was still at the Premier League club, but he ultimately decided to stay.
He developed some more before being bought by Stade Rennais in the summer for a hefty sum of £23.4m, despite being only 18, to help fill the gap from Raphinha’s departure to Leeds United.
While he has played regularly, his output in the final third has been somewhat questionable, tallying just two assists in 23 Ligue 1 appearances.
That could be an issue going forward, but, for now, Julien Stéphan, Rennes’ manager, isn’t worrying too much, reminding everyone of a current Liverpool star’s difficult starts in French football.
He said, relayed by Walfoot: “He’s only 18 and he still has an important progression margin in the final pass and last move. I don’t really like the comparison game, but it reminds of Sadio Mané at Metz, who scored just two goals. He’s only 18, we would like him to be ultra decisive now. If he was, he wouldn’t be at Rennes. He’s a player with huge potential. He’s hard working”.
Mané did in fact only scored two goals for Metz before being snapped up by RB Salzburg, where he developed further to become the goal machine he is today.
Since his arrival at Liverpool, Mané has scored 92 goals in 202 appearances from the wing, as well as picking up 39 assists.
