Jeremy Doku explains how freedom and faith won back Pep Guardiola's trust at Man City

Jeremy Doku has revealed how he has won back the faith of Pep Guardiola. Doku endured a difficult season last year as Manchester City finished the season empty-handed and he was in and out of the starting line-up.

Belgium winger Doku, 23, did not score in the Premier League since January but has been in red-hot form at the Club World Cup and looks rejuvenated. Doku has scored two goals, was man of the match against Juventus and has been sharp, quick and dangerous in helping City secure a last 16 tie with Al-Hilal on Monday.

City star Doku, who joined from Rennes for £55m two years ago, says he feels a new “freedom” from his own religious faith and also the trust of his manager.

Doku said: “I feel free and enjoying my football of course. I can still improve on certain aspects but when I play free and with the right mind, with the trust of the coach obviously then you see a better version of me and now you are seeing a glimpse of it.

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“I think it’s more to do with my faith, I’m more occupied with my faith and I just give all the glory to my Lord and our saviour Jesus Christ.

“Obviously it was a good game against Juventus, we won and we were together from the start to end and we scored some nice goals. We finished top of the Group and we are happy.”

City’s form in the United States has strengthened a belief that, after a frustrating season, they could be back to their best.

They have spent nearly £300m this calendar year on new players and they are blending in nicely and the talk is beginning to grow that “City are back.”

Doku shied away from making that judgement but says it is now down to them to keep their performance levels high through the tournament. But he says the squad is enjoying the Club World Cup and being together at their train base.

He said: “I don’t know, it depends on you guys. We just look game by game and this was a good game and we looked a bit more like how we were before and we will try to produce in every game like this and in every performance like we did now.

“Obviously there are a lot of games, we are here now, it’s a nice tournament and we are just trying to win. After this, the season will start again very quickly after and now we are here we want to enjoy it, try to win and it’s a beautiful place where we are in Miami so we are happy to be here.”

City are marking themselves down as potential winners and their win over Juventus was definitely a statement of intent as they smashed five past their Italian opponents.

They also avoided a last 16 tie with Real Madrid but Doku is not taking Al-Hilal lightly while he also says the Brazilian teams can be a real threat in this tournament after they achieved big results.

Doku added: “I think obviously they are in the middle of the season, they have a lot of energy, a lot of fans as well and I think in this tournament you cannot underestimate any team.

“Every team has a lot of qualities and I’ve watched a lot and when I watch them play, I see a lot of quality and we don’t underestimate anyone.”

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