Manchester City debutant hails impact of teammate after explosive season start

Jeremy Doku has hailed the impact of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland after making his Premier League debut alongside the Norwegian last weekend.

The 21-year-old, who moved to Manchester City from Stade Rennais for £55 million last month, made his full debut for the Blues against Fulham at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday.

Doku was handed his first start in the absence of Jack Grealish, as Manchester City extended their winning start to the Premier League season with a 5-1 win over Fulham.

Julian Alvarez’s first-half goal was quickly cancelled out by Fulham captain Tim Ream, before Nathan Ake controversially restored Manchester City’s lead prior to the half-time break.

Pep Guardiola’s side were propelled to victory by Erling Haaland in the second-half, as the 23-year-old scored his seventh Manchester City hat-trick, and fourth of calendar year.

The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year and PFA Player of the Year has scored six goals in six appearances so far this season, and was nominated for the Men’s Ballon d’Or earlier this week.

Haaland helped Manchester City to a famous treble last season, winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup during his first season at the Etihad Stadium.

The Norwegian scored 52 goals in 53 appearances last season, and broke the Premier League goalscoring record, netting 36 league goals during the the 2022/23 campaign.

Doku had the opportunity to play alongside the formidable forward last weekend, having watched Haaland’s performance against Sheffield United from the substitutes bench one week earlier.

After seeing the 23-year-olds stunning second-half hat-trick, Doku hailed playing alongside Haaland following his debut at the Etihad Stadium.

“Easy, he scores everything,” said the Belgium international.

“He doesn’t need a lot of chances to score and we saw that. In a difficult game, he scored three goals and helps us a lot.”