Egyptian Omar Marmoush, Eintracht Frankfurt striker, is very close to moving to Manchester City during the current winter transfer window.
According to Fabrizio Romano, a player transfer specialist, City held direct talks with Frankfurt after the German team’s match against St. Pauli yesterday, Saturday, and the talks were positive, and the deal is expected to be concluded next week.
The current question remains: Is Marmoush’s move in the current winter transfer window the ideal time for him? And is Manchester City the best stop for the Egyptian star?
Remarkable brilliance
The Egyptian has been showing remarkable levels with Frankfurt this season, winning the Bundesliga Player of the Month award twice, in September and November.
These awards are backed up by his impressive numbers, as he currently ranks second in the Bundesliga’s top scorers list with 14 goals behind Harry Kane (15), and tops the list of those who have created the most goals in the Bundesliga (7) tied with Florian Wirtz and Vincenzo Grifo, and is the player with the most shots in the league (71). He
has also broken several records, the latest of which was yesterday when he became the first Frankfurt player to score 14 goals in the first 16 rounds of the Bundesliga.
Thus, Marmoush has the elements of success in Frankfurt, as he has become the team’s first star and is in a high technical state thanks to his understanding with his teammates and the team’s style of play that relies on counterattacks and speed, unlike Manchester City, which aims to possess and most of the teams it faces deliberately retreat.
So Marmoush staying in Frankfurt would enable him to continue competing for the Bundesliga top scorer title and break more records, in addition to the possibility of winning the Europa League title in light of the lack of prominent names in the tournament this season.
His continuation would also mean that he would receive more offers in the summer, and the opportunity to join a new team early and have a preparatory period to get to know the team and his new teammates and start the season with greater focus, but the risk would remain in missing the opportunity to join City, which, although it is not going through its best conditions, remains one of the best teams in the world.
The City CrisisÂ
Manchester City is having its weakest season ever under Pep Guardiola since he arrived at the team in the summer of 2016.
City is currently in sixth place in the English Premier League table with 34 points, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
City also bid farewell to the League Cup in the fourth round after losing to Tottenham, and is in danger of an early exit from the Champions League as it is in 22nd place in the league stage with two rounds remaining.
City’s woes began in August with the departure of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid and the return of Ilkay Gundogan from Barcelona.
Despite a strong start to the season with three wins, Rodri’s cruciate ligament injury against Arsenal in September completely changed City’s season
and they remained unbeaten until the October international break, when they went on trial for breaching Financial Fair Play rules and sporting director Txiki Begiristain announced his intention to leave.
With the successive blows and injuries, City suffered four consecutive defeats before the last international break of the year, their worst losing streak since 2006. It was the first time that coach Guardiola suffered four consecutive defeats in his career, and in that streak City’s 32-match unbeaten run in the league was ended.
City tried to calm the atmosphere by renewing their coach’s contract until 2027, but at the end of November, City lost 4-0 at home to Spurs, ending the team’s 52-match unbeaten home run.
Therefore, voices have been raised about City’s dire need for deals, and the most prominent name that has been put forward is Marmoush, but if the deal goes through, the Egyptian star will suffer tremendous pressure, given his need to quickly adapt to the atmosphere of the most difficult league in the world.
He will also need to shine quickly to save the team, but he does not have much time to tolerate the margin of error or explore the new place.
Another negative aspect is that Marmoush is currently Frankfurt’s first star, but there are many stars in City, and the one most prominently responsible for scoring goals is Erling Haaland, so there will be doubts about Marmoush’s role in the team, whether in actually contributing to everything as he currently does with Frankfurt, or whether he will turn into a more peripheral player or be present as a false striker as was the case with Alvarez.
Guardiola’s legacy
Another negative aspect that may await Marmoush at City is the team coach’s bad reputation with African players.
All the Africans who worked with him suffered a lot, starting with Samuel Eto’o, who Pep asked in his first season with Barcelona to leave for Uzbekistan and bothered him a lot during the pre-season, before the Cameroonian left after one season to Inter after contributing to Barcelona winning the historic treble in the 2008-2009 season.
Guardiola also played a prominent role in Yaya Toure’s departure from Barcelona because he preferred Sergio Busquets, and he returned and caused the departure of the Ivorian, who was one of City’s most prominent stars, when he took over the technical mission of the English team and did not rely on him. The
latest victim was the Algerian star Riyad Mahrez, whose distinguished levels that he used to present in his participation with the team were not enough to make him a regular presence in the Spanish philosopher’s starting lineup.
Winter deals and Salah’s experience
Winter transfers rarely achieved success with Guardiola. In his first season, he signed Gabriel Jesus, who failed to provide the expected attacking addition with City, and left two seasons ago to Arsenal. He
also signed Aymeric Laporte in the winter of the 2017-2018 season, and he presented fluctuating levels with the team. Guardiola’s most prominent deals were always those that joined in the summer.
There is a similar Egyptian experience, when Egyptian star Mohamed Salah presented distinguished performances with Basel, which prompted Chelsea to sign him in January 2014, but Salah struggled to adapt to the team until he left it after one year, after which he began his journey to shine.
In general, winter deals rarely had a huge impact, due to the short time to adapt to new clubs and enter the season directly.
The bonus
of joining City is the chance to participate in the Champions League this season. Despite the difficulties that Guardiola’s men are going through, the quality of the players may ultimately make the difference and get them out of the dark tunnel.
City will also participate in the new 32-team Club World Cup at the end of the season, a great opportunity for Marmoush that he will not have with Frankfurt.