"I respect my contract with Wolfsburg and that I should always be prepared, however, my target is to play regularly. If they won’t give me that chance, I will leave," Marmoush said in an interview with Filgoal.

The 23-year-old forward joined German side Wolfsburg in 2017 from Egypt's Wadi Degla and kept playing with the reserve team until 2020, when he was loaned to FC St. Pauli in January 2021, after which he was loaned once more to Stuttgart in August 2021, where he excelled and helped the team avoid relegation.

Recently, Wolfsburg hired former Bayern Munich Croatian coach Niko Kovac to lead the team starting from the upcoming season; he will be deciding Marmoush’s in the club.

"Kovac is a big coach that is well-known in Europe, but I haven’t meet him yet, so I don’t know how he thinks. I try to listen to any new coach, especially during training, so I can figure out what he's going to need from me. I have confidence in myself and my abilities to be in any coach’s starting squad," he said.

"The coach being honest with you is great, I spoke with Van Bommel, and he told me that he didn't see me at the time as a starting player, and I made a decision then to go to St. Pauli and hopefully change his mind when I return," he added.

Marmoush — who dreams of playing in the English Premier League — revealed that he didn't receive any bids from Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek before he left for Germany, as he didn't spend much of his senior career in Egypt.

"I haven't been there (Egypt) for a long time, I left after a year and a half, and when the opportunity came to travel, I traveled quickly," he said.

"When you play in Ahly or Zamalek, the focus and the pressure increases; I needed time to develop. When I traveled, no one knew who I was, which allowed me to build a name for myself here."

National duty

Marmoush also revealed that he received an offer to represent the Canadian national team, which he turned down.

"The coach contacted me several times, telling me that Canada plans to qualify in the World Cup, but the offer wasn't attractive; and at the same time, playing for my country, Egypt, meant more to me than playing for Canada," he explained.

He also explained why he wasn’t included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which Egypt participated in after the young Pharaohs won the 2019 U23 African Cup of Nations.

"I wasn't called for the U23 AFCON that was held in Egypt because of tactical reasons from coach Shawky Gharib, because every coach has his own technical vision and knows the players who will benefit his way of playing," he added.

"Not including me in the U23 national team was very cruel to me, especially that I started at the time to play in the first team in one of the best five leagues in the world."

Marmoush made his debut with the Pharaohs in the game against Libya in the group stage of the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, when he scored the winner under former Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.

When asked about his opinion regarding Querioz's stay with the Pharaohs he replied: "Evaluating coaches is not my specialty, but on a personal level, he summoned me and was confident in my abilities."

"This is a big thing, and I thank him for it. He included many other players, and this shows his work with the national team, and in the end, we reached the final of the AFCON and the final qualifiers for the World Cup," he added.

Marmoush then shifted gears by talking about Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and his big role in the national team, stressing that Mo's presence gives all the players confidence.

"Having a player like him who has achieved all that he has motivates you to be like him. He always talks to us before matches and gives us advice," Marmoush told Filgoal.

"During the Cameroon game, the crowd was very rowdy. I have played in front of fans in Germany; this was different. At the 30th minute, the game stopped, and he came up to me and told me to calm down and not worry about what was going on."

"He also told me to play the same way I did at practice, because I’m a good player, which calmed me down. Having a captain with you on the field like Salah is a big deal," he asserted.

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