Jeremy Doku Signs New Deal with Manchester City Until 2031
Jeremy Doku has become the latest pillar of Manchester City’s next era, agreeing a new deal that ties him to the Etihad until 2031 and underlining the club’s commitment to a younger, more explosive core.
The Belgium winger, signed from Rennes for £55.4m in 2023, is expected to be officially unveiled on his extended terms next week, but the decision is already rippling through City’s pre-season camp. At 24, and coming off a 48-game campaign in which he scored eight goals and helped deliver both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in Pep Guardiola’s farewell season, Doku is no longer just a project. He is a reference point.
He is also part of a pattern. Doku becomes the fourth player to sign on again this summer, following Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov in committing to the club’s long-term vision. For all the noise about a quiet transfer window, City have been busy locking the doors from the inside.
Gonzalez fights for his place
If Doku’s future looks nailed down, Nico Gonzalez’s has felt more uncertain. The midfielder arrived from Porto for £50m in January of last year with the profile of a central piece, but has spent much of his time jostling for minutes in a crowded engine room.
He still managed 41 appearances in all competitions last season and produced one of the defining moments of City’s campaign: a stunning winner in the FA Cup semi-final against Southampton. That strike, and the performance around it, remains his calling card.
The rest of the season was less straightforward. Gonzalez drifted in and out of the side, never quite establishing himself as a guaranteed starter. That inconsistency fuelled talk that City might cut their losses after just 19 months.
Gonzalez has pushed back hard on that narrative.
"I'm happy here," he said when asked about his future. "I don't want to leave and I think the club wants me to stay. I haven't seen anything but I'm happy here.
"When I play I think I do a really good job. A good example was the semi-final of the FA Cup when I did a good match. Every chance I got, I tried my best.
"The final of the FA Cup I was out but we won so it was an amazing day for me. If we win, I'm happy. My dream is to win trophies.
"If I don't play any matches and we win the Champions League next year, I will be so happy."
It is a revealing stance: a high-profile signing publicly accepting the fight for minutes in a squad stacked with talent, so long as the medals keep coming.
A quiet window, a record signing
The calendar is edging towards the second week of August and City’s incoming business, on the surface, looks light. Only one signing is expected to walk straight into Enzo Maresca’s first XI: Elliot Anderson.
Light in number, heavy in cost. The England international has arrived from Nottingham Forest for a club-record £116m, a fee that underlines how central City believe he will be. At 23, he looks the natural successor to Bernardo Silva, who left at the end of his contract and joined Real Madrid.
Around that headline deal, the work has been more discreet. Teenage winger Jeremy Monga has been brought in from Leicester with an eye on academy development. Goalkeeper Pierce Charles and winger Mathys Detourbet were both signed and immediately loaned out, moves that fit City’s long-term squad-building model rather than this season’s starting line-up.
Maresca, speaking in South Korea where City are based for pre-season, did not hide the need for more. He confirmed director of football Hugo Viana and chief executive Ferran Soriano had flown out to join the tour and admitted, bluntly, "we need to something" in the market.
The phrase captured the mood: a recognition that the squad still needs tweaking, without any sense of panic.
Calm at the top, questions in midfield
Inside the club, the message remains consistent. There is an acceptance that City have not been as active as first planned, but senior figures insist they are relaxed and retain full trust in their transfer strategy.
They point to the winter window as proof of planning rather than drift. Deals for Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, both long-term targets, were accelerated to January instead of this summer. Both have already made a positive impact, softening the need for a flurry of business now.
The squad, in their view, is "young" and "exciting". It is also decorated, having lifted both domestic cups last season. The return of 20-year-old Brazilian defender Vitor Reis from a season-long loan at Girona adds another promising option expected to be part of the first-team picture.
The real intrigue sits in midfield. Rodri, the metronome of City’s recent dominance, has yet to sign a new contract and is drawing attention from both Real Madrid and Barcelona. Any movement there would shake the entire European market.
Tijjani Reijnders, another midfielder, is more likely to move. Nottingham Forest are among the clubs interested, and his departure would free up space and funds for further reshaping.
On the flanks, Savinho’s situation lingers in the background. BBC Sport reported last month that the winger is open to leaving, with Tottenham exploring a move, but nothing has advanced. For now, he remains a potential outgoing rather than an active sale.
City’s stance is clear: if players leave, replacements will come. Not like-for-like panic buys, but targeted additions.
Targets identified, tempo controlled
Those targets are already on the board. There is concrete interest in Chelsea’s Pedro Neto, a player whose direct running and Premier League experience fit the club’s evolving front-line profile.
Talks are also ongoing for Lille’s Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, a talent viewed as one for both the present and the future, and Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who would add experience and depth to the goalkeeping department.
The outside view might focus on the lack of volume. Inside the Etihad, the mood is different. This is a club that has grown used to operating on its own tempo, even as rivals spend aggressively around them.
Doku’s new deal, the quiet resolve of Gonzalez, the record outlay on Anderson and the steady hum of negotiations in the background all point in the same direction: evolution, not overhaul.
The Guardiola era ended with silverware. Maresca’s tenure begins with a squad that is younger, hungry, and still being shaped. The question now is not whether City will move in the market, but how bold they are prepared to be if one of their cornerstones, like Rodri, is prised away.
