Jeremy Doku rocked up Portman Road with a sizzling performance to inspire Manchester City’s 6-0 win over Ipswich Town, scoring and bagging a nice assist.
However, it was his celebration after the slick goal that had many fans thinking about the particular gestures.
Normally, the Belgian winger loves doing some fancy dance steps whenever he scores goals.
He loves doing the ‘griddy’ dance step and groove with his teammates after ousting the opposition goalkeeper.
But after his goal against Ipswich, the 22-year-old skipped all that to just look upwards towards the sky and point both his fingers towards the sky.
Phil Foden was respectful enough to let his teammate finish his intimate moment, but Doku’s gestures had some people wondering about his religion.
After his goal, the Belgian winger also posted a picture of him doing the gesture on his Instagram with the caption: “Top performance and big 3 points! All glory to God always.”
Jeremy was born on May 27, 2002 (four days before the start of the FIFA World Cup) to David and Belinda, who are of Ghanaian descent.
The Belgian winger is mighty proud of his roots to Ghana, as he had confirmed on the Premier League Chair show: “Of course, I’m Ghanaian also because my parents are Ghanaians. I also speak Twi, which is a language in Ghana. I’ve been there once and I’ll have to go back there again because it was a long time ago.”
The thing about Doku is that he isn’t really that open about his religious beliefs.
He hasn’t posted much about visiting any religious places, nor has he publicly spoken about which faith he really believes in.
With that being said, there are strong signs that indicate that the Belgian winger is indeed a devout Christian.
Firstly, the Manchester City star’s name ‘Jeremy’ is a modern version of the name ‘Jeremiah’, that is a major prophet in the Old Testement of the Christian Bible.
Moreover, the identities of his parents also come off as those who follow the Christianity religion.
The names ‘David’ and ‘Belinda’ are those normally used by those following the Christian faith, with the former’s name coming from the Bible and meaning ‘beloved’.
Doku’s brother Jefferson is a popular Christian boy’s name, which is inspired by Thomas Jefferson – who created a compilation of the New Testement named ‘The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth’.
Moreover, the majority of people from Ghana are Christians. As per a 2021 survey, 71% of the population in the country follows Christianity. With both his parents being born in Ghana, it’s safe to presume that they were born and raised as devout Christians.
Even though he isn’t open about his religious stance, Jeremy’s celebration against Ipswich of him pointing to the sky is often imitated by devout Christians, as it is inspired by the verse ‘Isaiah 40:26’ that states ‘Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?’
The Manchester City star also loves the Christmas period and was turned into the vocal part of a clever advertising campaign for the Manchester City Store ahead of Christmas 2024.
The club released a video showing Doku visiting their official store to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for his teammates, basically showing off the array of merchandise available in the store.
Even though Doku doesn’t wear the Christian cross in public events or games, there are enough signs that he is privately a religious person. The 22-year-old likes to keep that aspect about his personality as discreet at possible and continue being a fun-loving guy on and off the pitch.
