Three reasons why Omar Marmoush has already replaced Julian Alvarez after Man City’s 4-0 win vs Newcastle

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Omar Marmoush showed the world why he was a priority signing Manchester City in January by scoring a hat-trick in his side’s 4-0 victory against Newcastle United.

Marmoush produced a statement display, tucking away all three goals with precision — opening the scoring with a dinked finish after Ederson Moraes found him in space with an expertly-played long ball.

The Manchester City new-boy’s second goal was a display of his goalscoring instincts as he made a darting run in behind Newcastle’s defence before cutting the ball on to his right foot and slotting it into the bottom corner.

After a brilliant piece of dribbling from Savinho, the Brazilian found Marmoush in acres of space inside the box as he lashed the ball past Martin Dubravka to complete an incredible 14-minute hat-trick.

Marmoush was Manchester City’s best player against Newcastle for obvious reasons and just four appearances into his time at the Etihad Stadium, he looks like a superstar in the making.

But perhaps more pertinently, the Egyptian forward looks like he has already replaced Julian Alvarez for three reasons.

Omar Marmoush’s movement is similar to Julian Alvarez as he stars for Man City vs Newcastle

Firstlty, much like Alvarez, Marmoush’s movement is brilliant as he too is a natural goalscorer.

The unique element that the Argentine brought to Pep Guardiola’s side is that he would run in behind defences and constantly be on the move — a feature only Erling Haaland possessed after his departure.

Since Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, City have lacked multiple forwards that are willing outlets.

But in Marmoush, Manchester City have a player similar to Alvarez in this respect — as he darted past Kieran Trippier for his first goal, ghosted into a creak of space in Newcastle’s defence for his second and had the astuteness to ghost inside the box to cap off a well-deserved hat-trick.

The Sky Blues’ other forward players like Savinho, Jack Grealish, Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku like to stat static and receive the ball at their feet.

But Marmoush is constantly looking to find space in behind the opposition defence, a feature of his that was not only evident against Newcastle but during his debut against Chelsea too.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
4	Man CityManchester City	25	13	5	7	52	35	17	44

Manchester City have been missing Alvarez but in the former Eintracht Frankfurt attacker, they have another player who refuses to be stationary for large parts of the game.

Marmoush is versatile like Alvarez

Pep Guardiola chose not to replace Alvarez as the Catalan boss felt he had enough options in his side to deploy a system revolving around a false nine — with the likes of Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva all capable of playing as makeshift strikers.

While Guardiola’s gamble did not work as expected, he can feel relieved by knowing that in Marmoush, he now has a played who is similarly versatile like Alvarez.

Much like the World Cup winner, Marmoush looks comfortable operating as a second striker.

However, the ex-VfL Wolfsburg frontman is also capable of doing a job out wide like Alvarez did, as he does start as a left-winger when City have possession of the ball.

While against Leyton Orient, Pep Guardiola was seemingly at ease playing Marmoush as a lone centre-forward and while he had a rare off day in front of goal, his movement and positioning showed that he has the quality to replace Haaland in the side in a similar vein to Alvarez.

Marmoush is a goalscorer

Even before Marmoush signed for the Premier League champions, he was one of Europe’s most in-form goalscorers.

Scoring three goals in his first four games for City, Marmoush looks like he has already filled the gaping goalscoring hole Alvarez left in his former side’s squad — scoring 19 goals in all competitions during his final season at the Etihad Stadium. But the Cairo-born striker has got off to a blistering start in sky blue and with the £59 million (Sky Sports) man’s hunger to find the back of the net and goalscoring instinct, he could become similarly productive to the now-Atletico Madrid marksman.