Manchester City pinched one of the Bundesliga’s best players back in January when signing Omar Marmoush.
The Egypt international was signed in a £59m move from Eintracht Frankfurt after an outstanding start to the 2024/25 campaign, and proved his quality to Pep Guardiola instantly with seven goals and two assists in 16 Premier League appearances.
Marmoush even won the Premier League Goal of the Season award for his remarkable strike against Bournemouth inside the Etihad Stadium.
Another star of the Bundesliga is set to follow Omar Marmoush to England in Florian Wirtz after Liverpool agreed a £126m fee with Bayer Leverkusen – although the numbers suggest Manchester City have signed the better player for much less.
Omar Marmoush outshone Florian Wirtz in only half a season
The Egyptian only made 17 appearances in the Bundesliga last term before moving to England, but still did enough to outshine Wirtz – who Manchester City wanted to sign.
Marmoush incredibly scored 15 goals and provided ten assists in these 17 league outings, leaving Germany with an average of 1.47 goal involvements every 90 minutes.
Wirtz – who saw out the entire Bundesliga season, making 31 appearances – could only score ten goals and assist a further 13 in comparison, averaging 1.34 goal involvements per game.
| Player | Games | Goals | Assists | Goal Involvements Every 90 Minutes |
| Omar Marmoush | 17 | 15 | 10 | 1.47 |
| Florian Wirtz | 31 | 10 | 13 | 1.34 |
Manchester City are often mocked for spending heavily, but in this instance – as aforesaid – the finances behind signing Marmoush now look even more attractive, as Liverpool prepare to break the British transfer record for Wirtz.
At £59m, the man born in Cairo actually cost less than half of what Liverpool are spending on the Germany international, who has a £126m price tag, a statistic which will surely leave Guardiola laughing.
Of course, it should be noted that Marmoush – aged 26 – is four years older than Wirtz, and younger talents tend to cost more due to their longer shelf life, but even still, the deal for the Egyptian is starting to look more and more of a bargain with each passing day.
Manchester City wanted to pair Omar Marmoush and Florian Wirtz together, but a more exciting partnership could now be struck
As aforesaid, Manchester City did want to sign Wirtz before he made it clear Anfield was his preference, but in Rayan Cherki, Guardiola could actually have a better player to pair with Marmoush, and for just £30.5m no less.
The France international provided 20 assists for Lyon last season – five more than the Liverpool new boy recorded in all competitions – and also managed to score 12 goals himself.
As FBREF shows, Cherki was also far more creative than Wirtz in general, registering 6.44 shot creating actions every 90 minutes compared to the German’s tally of 5.66 actions per game.
Therefore, Guardiola could still have the last laugh, despite technically missing out on Wirtz to Arne Slot.
