Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku played a role in persuading new Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku to snub a move to Stamford Bridge in 2020, according to Anderlecht academy director Jean Kindermans.
Doku began his senior career in his native Belgium with Anderlecht before moving to France to join Rennes in October 2020.
The 21-year-old established himself as one of the brightest prospects in Ligue 1 during his three-year stay at Rennes and his impressive performances in France have since earned him a big-money move to treble winners Man City this summer.
Doku, who moved to the Etihad Stadium for around £55.5m, has penned a five-year deal with the Citizens until 2028 and made his Premier League debut in a 5-1 home victory over Fulham before the international break.
However, the Belgian international's career could have taken a different path if compatriot and former Anderlecht youngster Lukaku had not stepped in to block a proposed move to Chelsea three years ago.
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Anderlecht chief Kindermans has revealed that Lukaku – now on loan at Roma – persuaded Doku to turn down a move to Chelsea in 2020 in order to continue his career at former club Anderlecht.
Discussing the scenario in an interview with The Mirror, as quoted by football.london, Kindermans said: "I remember taking Romelu into my office about the problem of getting young players to commit to us – Doku in particular.
"Romelu replied, 'Come on, pass your phone to me, I'm going to call him'. But I didn't want to do that because a phone call gets quickly forgotten. So, instead, I got Romelu to convince Jeremy to stay.
"I still have the video on my phone. On it, you can hear Romelu giving advice to the Doku family, saying 'Hey, guys, stay with Anderlecht for a while, you're good' and so on."
Amid uncertainty over his future, Doku made seven league appearances for Anderlecht at the start of the 2020-21 season, scoring two goals and providing four assists, but he eventually decided to leave the club and join Rennes in the autumn for around £22m.
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Lukaku himself decided to leave Anderlecht and join Chelsea at the age of 18 back in 2011, but he struggled to gain regular first-team football before thriving on loan at both West Bromwich Albion and Everton, joining the latter permanently in 2014.
After missing out on signing Doku in the summer of 2020, Chelsea eventually made three attack-minded signings in the form of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech – all three players have since departed Stamford Bridge, albeit the latter leaving on loan to Galatasaray.
Chelsea's interest in Doku came about before the arrival of co-owner Todd Boehly, who has taken the approach of spending big on recruiting young talent from across the globe – forking out over £1bn since his arrival in May last year.
Doku is now plying his trade at Premier League rivals Man City, and the winger recently expressed his excitement to represent "the best team in world football" where he believes that he can develop into a "much better player" under the tutelage of manager Pep Guardiola.
The Belgian youngster is currently away on international duty with Lukaku, and both players featured in the Red Devils' 1-0 win over Azerbaijan in Euro 2024 qualifying last weekend.
Oliver Thomas
