Omar Marmoush joined Manchester City almost a year ago for a record fee. The 26-year-old is also haunted by a strange curse after the end of his time at Eintracht Frankfurt.
There he got his chance – and then this: Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 coup at Manchester City was by no means a shining moment for Omar Marmoush – on the contrary!
“He showed more passion trying to cheer on the spectators than leading the attack, where he had little to offer,” the Manchester Evening News scoffed at the Egyptian’s performance, who was only in City’s starting eleven for the 4th time this season against Bayer.
Omar Marmoush wearing the Manchester City jersey
Across the board, his performance was rated mediocre to poor: 4 out of 10 from the Manchester Evening News , other portals gave Marmoush a maximum of 5 out of 10. At WhoScored.com , the attacker recorded 5.87, the second-worst score of all City players used.
Yahoo Sports at least showed pity for Marmoush “as he struggled without really being integrated into the game to make a significant impact.”
But the numbers were sobering: no shots, only one successful dribble, with 77.8 percent the fourth-weakest rate of his team.
Marmoush seems to have been struck by a strange curse. Because overall, the former attacker of Eintracht Frankfurt cannot match his performances from the Bundesliga after his record transfer to Manchester City.
The Egyptian joins a series of notable names: Sébastien Haller, Luka Jovic, Ante Rebic, André Silva and Randal Kolo Muani also declined remarkably after leaving Eintracht.
For a staggering 75 million euros, Marmoush moved to star coach Pep Guardiola’s club last January.
Previously, the 26-year-old had scored a strong 27 goals and 16 assists in 46 Bundesliga games across seasons. Never before had a Bundesliga professional moved to another club in winter for such a high sum.
And it seemed to continue like this in England. Marmoush scored a hat-trick in the Cityzens jersey in his third Premier League appearance. But Guardiola had already dampened the euphoria back then.
“We knew that he would score sooner or later, he is just a good finisher. But now let’s see how he deals with all the compliments,” the 54-year-old said soberly after the hat-trick against Newcastle United.
Marmoush scored a total of seven goals and two assists in his first half-season for City.
But as if Guardiola knew it, the tide turned completely in the new season.
In the first game of the season, Marmoush was only allowed to play from the bench when the game against Wolverhampton had long been decided.
When the ex-Frankfurt player was allowed to play from the start in the following two games, the “Skyblues” lost 0:2 and 1:2 against Tottenham and Brighton.
After that, a bitter period of suffering followed: As a result of a knee injury, Marmoush missed seven competitive games.
Teammate Jeremy Doku has established himself in Guardiola’s system on the left side at the latest during this period. And Erling Haaland is set as a striker anyway.
Marmoush felt this painfully after his recovery. In the past four Premier League games, he has played just 36 minutes. In total.
Marmoush and Manchester City still have eight games ahead of them until the end of the year. Including key games against Real Madrid and Crystal Palace.
It would be all the more important that the former record striker from Eintracht Frankfurt can improve his statistics in the coming weeks.
So far, Marmoush has only scored one goal and one assist this season (eleven appearances) for the Cityzens.
Far too little for the fourth most valuable player in Manchester City by market value.
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