Scout Report: Omar Marmoush
Omar Marmoush
Manchester City are looking to be active this January following a spell of form uncharacteristic of the treble winners.
From defence, to scoring goals, to an aging quad, a lot of potential problems have been unearthed.
One particular problem is how Pep Guardiola’s side never replaced forward Julian Alvarez. Could Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush be the player to fill that void?
Career History
The now 25-year-old began his career in his native Egypt, turning out for Egyptian Premier League side, Wadi Degla.
After picking up some pace in his debut season, it wasn’t long before Germany came calling for the young attacker. It was Wolfsburg who took the plunge on Marmoush, signing him for their B team, Wolfsburg II.
The player hit the ground running, scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances for the B team, being promoted to the first team within two years of landing in Germany.
Whilst breaking into the Wolfsburg side was hard going, a loan helped Marmoush continue his development. A spell at then 2. Bundesliga side St Pauli, followed by his first full Bundesliga campaign with VfB Stuttgart where he made eight goal contributions in the league.
Both loan spells made Marmoush hard to ignore, and new manager Niko Kovac made the decision to involve him in his squad. Kovac made the player a main stay in the first XI, with the attacker playing 36 times and finishing the campaign as the club’s joint top scorer.
Come the end of the 2022-23 season, the Eygptian was out-of-contract, leaving his next move up to him, and Frankfurt was the destination of choice.
At 23, Marmoush began to excel, playing across an array of attacking positions, netting 17 goals and getting six assists.
That form has continued into 2024-25, as the player has 30 goal involvements in just 26 appearances, it is no wonder Europe’s elite has come calling.
Style Of Play
Marmoush is a versatile attacker who can play in almost any attacking position, from right to left, or either in an attacking midfield role, or right up top.
Whilst spending most of his early years in the CAM role or as left midfielder, he has been deployed as Striker for the majority of his time in Frankfurt to great results.
This campaign he has netted 15 times when deployed up top in 18 appearances, whilst netting twice from attacking midfield in two appearances, displaying how versatile the Egyptian attacker is.
A pacy dribbler, Marmoush matches a lot of attributes that came from Julian Alvarez but adds size and more experience being versatile at the top level.
A seriously technical player, he excels in front of goal, whilst loving taking on players from deep to create opportunities for either himself, or his teammates. A strong dribbler, with quick feet, he is hard to bring down, but doesn’t lack a clinical pass or finish, meaning that most of his dribbles are fruitful in one way or another.
Marmoush stands taller than Alvarez, at 6ft, but isn’t the complete forward, as he lacks the stature to hold the ball up as well as others but makes up for it with his technical quality and quick feet. Whilst for some this would be a disadvantage, for the likes of Pep Guardiola will most likely be a positive, allowing the Egyptian to play a number of positions, alongside giving a different option to No. 9 Erling Haaland.
The biggest question surrounding the 25-year-old will be can he make the step from the Bundesliga to the Premier League? This season, Marmoush has truly shown his quality.
The attacker averages 0.93 goals per 90, overperforming his xG of 0.55. He makes 2.23 shots on target per 90, alongside averaging 0.56 assists per 90. Bringing his passing into it, the attacker has a passing accuracy of 79.6% per 90, whilst creating 2.17 chances a game. Finally, to display Marmoush’s quality ball control, he makes 2.85 dribbles per 90, winning 3.4 fouls a game when opponents can’t stop him.
Going forward, Marmoush’s quality is very much on show, and as a player he seems to have the Guardiola blueprint installed. Could he be the attacking answer for Manchester City? Time will tell, but it seems as though the Egyptian is on his way to the north-west.
