No sooner had Omar Marmoush scored his hat-trick for Manchester City against Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday – three goals scored in less than 14 minutes – than the news headlines and social media started shouting: “The New Egyptian King”. “The Next Mo Salah”. “Another Brilliant Egyptian”.
Comparisons between Salah and Marmoush are inevitable and in truth there are some similarities: both are Egyptian, both are forwards, both play in big clubs in the English Premier League, both come from middling Egyptian clubs – the Arab Contractors produced Salah while Marmoush played for Wadi Degla – and both caught the eye of some of the world’s best coaches: Pep Guardiola hired Marmoush while Salah was picked up by Jose Mourinho and later Jurgen Klopp.
However, that’s as far as it goes. To seriously start correlating the achievements of Marmoush to those of Salah is ridiculous; one game does not define a player. But let’s do it anyway.
When he started his pro career abroad, Marmoush had three mediocre seasons in Germany with only nine goals in 69 games on two teams in the Bundesliga before exploding in this current season with Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring 20 goals in 26 games for Frankfurt – 15 of them in the league. At that time, he was the second top scorer in Germany behind England’s captain Harry Kane before being signed by City last month.
Marmoush has also scored six goals in 35 games for Egypt.
This resume of Marmoush comprised 84 words.
Onto Salah whose list of feats would fill the rest of this newspaper.
As such, best to zero in on the most exciting aspect of football and the most important of an offensive player: goals scored.
At age 25, one year less than Marmoush is today, Salah became the English Premier League’s all-time goal scorer for a 38-game season, with 32 goals (not to mention Salah is mostly a right winger whereas Marmoush is more or less a centre forward).
Can Marmoush do what Salah did if he stays with City next year?
Maybe yes, maybe no.
But one certainly should not bet that Marmoush can have a season like that of Salah or even close to it based on the three goals he netted against Newcastle, which are seventh place in the league (not to mention Marmoush had played his first four games for City without scoring a goal).
We should also resist the temptation to throw all our unbridled adulation at a player who might turn out to be a flash in the pan. “Kings” are supposed to last much longer.
Again, look at Salah. For Liverpool to date, he has scored 239 goals in 385 games.
In 103 games for Egypt, he has 59 goals.
That’s a remarkable average of nearly a goal every two games in almost eight years of playing for Liverpool and 14 for Egypt.
That is not just longevity; that is out-of-this-world consistency.
The next big test for Marmoush and City is Wednesday’s do-or-die Champions League return with Real Madrid in the second leg. City have a one-goal deficit to overcome after a 3-2 loss at home.
Al-Ahram Weekly would have gone to print before the game, however, whatever Marmoush does or does not do in the match, let’s not get carried away by the three-goal scorer. The gulf between Salah and Marmoush is very, very wide and the latter’s journey is very, very long.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 20 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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