Omar Marmoush has looked a good signing so far for Manchester City. On the international stage though, it’s looking like a different story.
Omar Marmoush was the marquee signing for Manchester City in January. Fans were excited by the Egyptian international’s £59million arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt, where he’d proved prolific on the Bundesliga.
The 26-year-old had scored 15 and assisted nine more in just 17 Bundesliga outings before making the move to the Etihad, later scoring his first goals for Pep Guardiola’s side when he scored a hat-trick against Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Marmoush has since scored once more with four goals in seven Premier League outings for City, with Manchester City fans full of praise for Marmoush after his most recent display against Brighton.
Currently away on international duty, Marmoush has had mixed fortunes, especially so playing alongside Liverpool’s Mo Salah. The two have a lot of pressure to deliver the goods for Egypt, but it’s proving easier said than done.
Mo Salah and Man City star Omar Marmoush struggling to find chemistry
During this March international break, Egypt have played in two World Cup qualifiers and have won them both without conceding: first beating Ethiopia 2-0 and then Sierra Leon 1-0. Salah scored and assisted against Ethiopia but neither player was on target against Sierra Leone in the second game.
Marmoush played on the left and Salah on the right. But Egyptian journalist Karim Farouk has been highly critical of the pair’s performances together, in particular their ability to combine together, singling out Marmoush as perhaps the worse of the two during this international break.
Farouk wrote for Al-Ahram: “The Salah-Marmoush duo were never in a position to ignite the game together. The game plan placed them in completely different zones, thus greatly reducing the possibility of creating the much-needed link to terrorize opposing defences,” adding: “Although it hasn’t yet worked out, the Salah-Marmoush partnership remains Egypt’s greatest potential.”
Farouk then wrote of Marmoush: “Marmoush seemed isolated and almost invisible against Ethiopia.”
Omar Marmoush’s record for Egypt vs Mo Salah’s
Both players are legends in their home country. But Salah at 32 years old may be looking to pass the torch onto Marmoush in the coming years, with Marmoush having certainly proven his goal-scoring ability in Europe, but not yet consistently in the Premier League.
But Marmoush has a long way to go yet if he’s to provide the same kind of goals record that Salah has given his country over the past several years, with Salah head and shoulders above the Manchester City man in terms of goals.
| Statistic | Omar Marmoush for Egypt | Mo Salah for Egypt |
| Games | 37 | 103 |
| Goals | 6 | 58 |
Pep has big plans for Marmoush. It’s expected that Pep will build his Man City XI around Marmoush and some of his other, younger key players like Erling Haaland, though there’s been suggestions that Pep could play Marmoush on the left next season instead of down the middle.
Once Marmoush has his position sorted at City, he can start to really get down to the goals, and hopefully provide for both City and Egypt.
