Pep Guardiola has admitted that he did not expect summer signing Jeremy Doku to have made such a big impact so soon into his Manchester City career after the winger scored in Saturday's 3-1 away win over West Ham United in the Premier League.
The 21-year-old joined the Citizens from Rennes for a reported £55.5m last month and was handed his full debut in the 5-1 home victory over Fulham before the international break.
In the absence of the injured Jack Grealish, Doku was handed another start on the left flank against West Ham, and he scored his first City goal just a minute into the second half, cutting inside from the left and placing a sweet strike into the far corner to cancel out James Ward-Prowse's first-half opener.
Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland were also on the scoresheet to help the reigning champions seal a comeback win over the Hammers and preserve their 100% start in the Premier League after five matches.
Guardiola, who returned to the dugout after three weeks in Barcelona recovering from a back operation, was left impressed with Doku's performance on just his second start for the club.
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"When you buy a player like him for four or five years – I don't know how many years we signed him for – we have to be patient," Guardiola told mancity.com.
"I will be honest, I didn't expect him to play for Man City the way he did today! Against Fulham he was deeper and close to Kyle [Walker] so today he was higher.
"There are processes he has to learn and all the time we are there to help him but he has to say, 'I have to be myself as a player'."
Guardiola was also pleased with Doku's no-fear showing at the London Stadium after suggesting that the Belgium international was "a little shy" on his debut against Fulham.
"I was in Barcelona when Jeremy arrived and I had the feeling that maybe he was a little shy in his first game," the Citizens boss added.
"He'd just joined us, had two or three days' training with a team that had won the treble and we spoke about this – I told him to use his quality as a winger – one-on-one or one versus two, if you have the feeling, go.
"From the first minute he was incredible, aggressive with determination and arrived many times on the byline. I'm really pleased because we thought the quality was there, and he has started to prove it."
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Reacting to scoring his first Man City goal, Doku said: "It means a lot. A lot. Especially after their goal. I wanted to do something back, something good, and I scored and helped the team and I'm happy for that.
"I think we reacted very well. We had a lot of chances in the first half without scoring but we kept on going. They scored a goal, I had bad touch, so I was disappointed. We reacted well and kept on playing and after that we scored three goals and had a good game.
"I enjoyed it [against Vladimir Coufal]. I had a lot of one-on-ones, the coach knows I'm good at that. We go for one-on-ones. I tried to do it and it worked. I enjoyed the game against him."
The winger added: "He [Guardiola] said the first game I was a little bit shy, and now I'm not, and I agree. I showed a little bit more today of what I'm capable of. I was less shy today.
"I'm not realising yet but I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a big moment for me and my family. Hopefully we can win a lot of games and trophies and I can score a lot of goals."
Doku will be looking to add to his goal tally when Man City take on Red Star Belgrade at the Etihad Stadium in their first Champions League group-stage game of the new season on Tuesday.
Oliver Thomas
