Jeremy Doku Signs New Deal with Manchester City Until 2031

Jeremy Doku has tied his future to Manchester City, signing a new deal that runs until 2031 and underlining the club’s commitment to the winger at the dawn of the Enzo Maresca era.

The Belgium international, a £55.4m signing from Rennes in 2023, is the latest core piece to be locked in at the Etihad. An official announcement is expected next week, but inside the club there is no sense of surprise. This is exactly the type of player City want to build around.

Doku’s first full season in Manchester was breathless. Forty-eight appearances, eight goals, and a key role in a side that swept both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in Pep Guardiola’s final campaign. His direct running and one‑v‑one threat gave City a different gear, and the club has moved quickly to protect that asset long term.

He is not alone. Doku becomes the fourth player to sign fresh terms this summer, following Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov. City’s hierarchy may be quiet in the market by their own standards, but they are loudly securing the spine – and future – of the squad.

Gonzalez fights for his place

If Doku’s situation feels straightforward, Nico Gonzalez’s is anything but.

The midfielder arrived from Porto for £50m last January, flagged as a major investment and a long-term piece. Yet his first full season never quite settled into a rhythm. He featured 41 times in all competitions and delivered one of the standout moments of the campaign with a stunning winner in the FA Cup semi-final against Southampton, but he drifted in and out of the starting XI.

That kind of profile – expensive, talented, not fully established – usually sparks transfer whispers. It has with Gonzalez. The answer from the player, though, is blunt.

"I'm happy here," he said when pressed on 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."

Those are not the words of a player angling for the exit. They are the words of a squad man determined to prove he belongs.

So far this pre-season, Gonzalez has featured in both friendlies, against Inter Milan and a K-League XI. Maresca is taking a close look. The club, for now, are not pushing him towards the door.

A quiet window, by design

The calendar is edging into the second week of August and City have made just one senior signing expected to walk straight into the first XI: Elliot Anderson.

The England international has arrived from Nottingham Forest for a club-record £116m fee, a figure that underlines both City’s financial power and their belief that the 23-year-old can grow into a central role. He appears the natural successor to Bernardo Silva, who left at the end of his contract and joined Real Madrid.

Around that headline move, the business has been more low-key. Teenage winger Jeremy Monga has been brought in from Leicester and is likely to see most of his minutes in the academy setup. Goalkeeper Pierce Charles and winger Mathys Detourbet have both been signed and immediately loaned out, standard City practice for development projects.

Maresca, speaking on Tuesday, acknowledged the need for more. He revealed that director of football Hugo Viana and chief executive Ferran Soriano had flown to South Korea, where City are based for pre-season, and admitted “we need to something” in the market. The phrasing was clumsy; the message was not. The squad still requires work.

Inside the club, though, there is no sense of panic. Senior figures describe themselves as “relaxed” and full of “trust” in the transfer plan. Part of that calm stems from deals done early: Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, both long-term targets, were signed in January, moves effectively pulled forward from this summer. Both have already made a positive impact, easing the urgency now.

The squad is viewed internally as “young” and “exciting”, a group that already delivered both domestic cups last season and still has room to grow. Vitor Reis, the 20-year-old Brazilian defender, has returned from a season-long loan at Girona and is expected to step into the first-team picture. That kind of internal promotion is baked into City’s planning.

Big decisions still to come

Not every contract story at the Etihad is as settled as Doku’s.

Rodri, the midfield anchor around whom so much of City’s success has been built, has yet to sign a new deal. Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid and Barcelona are watching closely. Any serious move from Spain would test City’s resolve and the player’s ambitions in equal measure.

Tijjani Reijnders is in a different position. The midfielder is likely to leave, with Nottingham Forest among the clubs showing interest. For a squad already flush with options in the middle of the pitch, his departure would be manageable, but City’s stance is clear: if a senior player goes, a replacement is expected to come in.

Savinho is another name in flux. As reported last month, the winger is open to leaving, with Tottenham exploring a move, though talks have yet to crystallise into anything concrete. The situation remains open, and City are prepared to react if the right offer lands.

Targets are already lined up. There is interest in Chelsea’s Pedro Neto, while negotiations continue for Lille’s Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi and Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli. None of those deals is over the line, but they show the contours of City’s thinking: reinforce wide areas, refresh midfield options, add depth in goal.

Through it all, the mood at the top of the club remains strikingly calm. No flurry of panic buys, no late scramble. Just a clear bet that this young, decorated squad – now with Jeremy Doku locked in until 2031 – can be sharpened rather than overhauled.

The question is whether that measured approach will be enough in a season when everyone else is scrambling to catch them, or finally to knock them off their perch.