Omar Marmoush: From Frankfurt Star to Tottenham's New Weapon
Omar Marmoush has lived a lot of careers in a very short time.
The Egyptian forward walked into Eintracht Frankfurt on a free from Wolfsburg in May 2023 and walked out as one of Europe’s most dangerous attackers. Seventeen goals in his first season across all competitions set the tone. The explosion came after that.
By the first half of the 2024-2025 Bundesliga campaign, Marmoush was operating at a different speed. Fifteen league goals from just 8.9 expected goals, plus nine assists in 17 matches, turned him from a smart pick-up into a headline act. By the time he left Germany, his numbers looked like something from a video game: 20 goals and 13 assists in 26 games in all competitions.
Manchester City were not just watching. They were buying.
In January 2025, they put down £59 million to bring him to the Etihad.
A free-kick streak and a Wembley scar
Marmoush arrived with more than just open-play threat. His set-piece streak was outrageous. He became the first player in Europe’s top five leagues since Lionel Messi in 2019 to score directly from a free kick in three consecutive official matches. That kind of detail sticks in the minds of analysts and defenders alike.
His early City months carried that same sense of momentum. He produced the first hat-trick of his career against Newcastle, then stepped up in the FA Cup quarter-final, scoring the winner against Bournemouth. When the teams met again in the league, he lashed in a long-range strike that was later voted goal of the season. The highlights reel filled up quickly.
Then Wembley intervened.
In the 2025 FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland handed Marmoush the ball for a penalty. A gesture of trust on the biggest domestic stage. Dean Henderson guessed right, saved, and City fell at Wembley. One kick, one freeze-frame, replayed endlessly.
Nedum Onuoha, who knows the club and the scrutiny around it, refuses to let that moment become the defining image.
“When I see Marmoush, I don't remember the missed penalty,” he told BBC. “I see the power he possesses in some of his runs in behind the defenders.”
A crowded City attack and a shrinking role
Since that big-money move, Marmoush has scored 16 goals in 62 appearances for City across all competitions. The 2025-2026 season brought eight goals in 36 matches. Respectable, not spectacular. Not what his Frankfurt peak had teased.
The sharper drop came in the Premier League. He started only eight games, logging around 700 minutes – less than he managed in half a season when he first arrived. Three goals and three assists in the league underline the limited impact, but the expected goals data adds nuance. His xG sat at 3.53, almost identical to his actual tally. The finishing held up. The issue lay elsewhere.
Onuoha sees the root of it in City’s attacking hierarchy. Haaland owns the pure No 9 role. Around him, the squad is stacked with natural No 10s and wingers, specialists in those half-spaces and wide lanes. The zones Marmoush can occupy are crowded with elite options.
That is why the move to Tottenham feels different. It is not just a transfer. It is a reset.
Built for De Zerbi’s chaos
Labeling Marmoush as a simple out-and-out striker misses the point. At Frankfurt, he played as a central striker, a second striker, and off the left. At City, he has been used through the middle, wide, and in the pocket behind another forward. He is a forward, not a position.
That profile fits neatly with Roberto De Zerbi’s demands. De Zerbi’s teams want forwards who rotate, drop into midfield, drag defenders around, then sprint into the gaps they have just created. Marmoush’s game lives in those patterns.
Onuoha is convinced his best version appears when there is grass to attack.
“Although he is good when he drops towards the ball,” Onuoha said, “I think he is better when he plays on the shoulder of the defender. He needs a team that consistently plays him into the spaces behind the defence and forces the opponent to run towards their own goal.”
The numbers from the 2025-2026 Premier League campaign back that up – and they paint him as a very different option to Tottenham’s current forwards.
According to Opta, per 90 minutes Marmoush outperforms both Dominic Solanke and Richarlison in most attacking metrics, apart from aerial duels. He produced 0.77 goals and assists, 3.86 shots, 1.55 chances created, 5.67 progressive carries, 1.29 successful dribbles, 6.82 touches in the box and 11.46 runs in behind.
Those figures describe a forward who does not just wait to be served. He carries the ball, commits defenders, and manufactures his own looks at goal. For De Zerbi, often facing low blocks and deep defensive lines, that kind of self-starter in the final third can change the rhythm of a game.
Onuoha sees the fit clearly. “Sometimes it's just about how well a player fits the team,” he said. “Marmoush's ability to run in behind the defence and link up play could be very important for Tottenham. They won't hesitate to play balls in behind the defence and force the opponent to retreat.”
Solanke, Marmoush and a different Spurs attack
The obvious question arrives quickly: what does this mean for Solanke?
Onuoha does not view Marmoush as a replacement. He sees a partnership.
Solanke brings the frame, the wrestling matches with centre-backs, the ability to pin defenders and create chaos with his physical presence. Marmoush operates around that. He can drift wide, slide between the lines, then burst into the spaces that open when the press is broken or the back line steps up.
“Solanke is different from Marmoush, as he has a greater physical presence,” Onuoha said. “I can imagine the goalkeeper playing a low ball to Solanke, with Marmoush coming from behind him to receive it, and that becomes the start of the attack.
“Each of them can complement the other. Playing with two strikers could bring out more of Marmoush's strengths.”
From Frankfurt free transfer to £59m signing. From a free-kick streak to a missed penalty at Wembley. Now, potentially, from the fringes at City to the heart of De Zerbi’s project.
If Tottenham really lean into what Marmoush does best – those violent runs in behind, that restless movement across the front line – his next chapter might be the one that finally sticks.
