Bundesliga
Guirassy and Marmoush: Africa's best strikers right now?
Egypt and Eintracht Frankfurt's Omar Marmoush and Stuttgart's Guinea international Serhou Guirassy have led the line sensationally for their sides so far this season. bundesliga.com runs the rule over the awesome African pair of strikers...
Neither would have been on a list of those expected to star in the 2023/24 Bundesliga season before the campaign began, which makes the explosive rise of Marmoush and Guirassy all the more spectacular. While there might be a different make-up to their talents and reasons for their success, the ease with which they have both smashed goal after goal in recent weeks provides good reason to compare the pair of African attackers ahead of Frankfurt vs. Stuttgart on Matchday 12.
Omar Marmoush
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
2023/24 goals: 6 (in 11 appearances)
Country: Egypt (24 appearances, four goals)
When talismanic striker Randal Kolo Muani left Frankfurt for his native France in the summer, few would have dared to predict that Marmoush, a free signing from Wolfsburg, would fill his shoes. Indeed Marmoush said upon his unveiling in Frankfurt this summer that he needed to use the chances he gets more efficiently. He showed promise in his previous two Bundesliga seasons with the Wolves and at Stuttgart, but hit the net a modest eight times in total across those two campaigns.
Watch: The best of Omar Marmoush so far this season
A late tap-in to secure a point at Mainz in a 1-1 draw on Matchday 2 clearly inspired belief in the Egyptian. Though he then went on a five-match run without finding the net, the goals suddenly began to fly in. A confident turning of a defender and slick strike in the opening minutes of a 3-1 away win at Hoffenheim in October was followed by two successive braces - in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Borussia Dortmund and 3-0 success at Union Berlin. His sweeping drive from the edge of the box that opened the scoring in the second minute in Berlin oozed the sheer confidence of a player transformed and at the top of his game.
That Bundesliga goal glut has been matched by three strikes in four UEFA Conference League encounters, with the Egyptian's instinct seemingly giving Eintracht's attack an extra gear after a low-scoring start to the campaign.
Marmoush's coach, Dino Toppmöller, is understandably delighted, saying: "He is a very good player who has discovered the art of scoring goals. He can sense the faith the coaches and his team-mates have in him. He is extremely hard-working and difficult to defend."
Toppmöller has pointed to the Egyptian's pace as one of his greatest assets, as well as his knack of "finding space in the danger area to use his technique and footballing class."
Serhou Guirassy
Club: VfB Stuttgart
2023/24 goals: 15 (in 9 appearances)
Country: Guinea (8 appearances, two goals)
Words barely do justice to the staggering scoring form Guirassy has erupted into this season. A brace in a 5-0 win against Bochum on the opening day as Stuttgart roared out of the traps set the sensational tone. After he began the scorefest that day with a thumping top-corner drive, there was just no putting the Guirassy goalscoring genie back in the bottle for opposing defences. By the time he had smashed his second hat-trick of the campaign in a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg on Matchday 7, the Guinean had already shredded his previous best figures of 11 goals in a season.
Watch: Will Harry Kane or Serhou Guirassy break Robert Lewandowski's record?
Guirassy has demonstrated the full range of his masterful art of goalscoring in hitting 15 goals so far this season in just nine appearances. His clinical touch has been combined with sublime skill - for instance when chipping the ball up to head past Robin Zentner and net his first hat-trick of the season in a 3-1 win at Mainz, or when dinking over Darmstadt goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen as his side won by the same scoreline the following weekend.
Not even injury misfortune could keep him off the scoresheet for too long. Having suffered a thigh injury 30 minutes into a 3-0 win at Union Berlin - after already finding the net in that encounter - the striker was sidelined for two Bundesliga matches. He returned from the substitutes' bench in a Matchday 11 home tie against Borussia Dortmund with the game on a knife-edge at 1-1 in the 67th minute. Just over 15 minutes later, Guirassy showed nerves of steel to cannon a late winner in from the penalty spot.
Watch: All 15 of Serhou Guirassy's goals in 2023/24 so far
Needless to say, Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeneß has an awful lot of praise for Guriassy for his integral role in his side's flying start to the season that sees them in third place after Matchday 11. The coach said after the win over Darmstadt on Matchday 5: "You saw the complete palette of Sehrou Guirassy again today. That also involves knowing when it is important to make a run and chase off the ball. That's how he has become so much of a focal point."
Attacking team-mate Chris Führich said: "He's incredible. He just keeps at it week after week, and we are delighted to have him."
While Guirassy was born in France, he spoke to bundesliga.com recently about his pleasure at representing Guinea in international football, referencing the passion of the fans in the West African country and saying: "I hope we can make them proud."
Given Marmoush and Guirassy's scoring exploits, the Bundesliga has a strong claim to have the two best African strikers right now at an exciting time, with the Africa Cup of Nations on the horizon in January.
There are just a few players who might contest that tag. Marmoush's Egyptian international team-mate Mo Salah has netted 10 times in the English Premier League so far this season, but plays as a right-sided attacker for Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool, rather than as a centre-forward. Nigeria's Akor Adams has netted seven times for Montpellier in Ligue 1, but is yet to score in November.
Victor Boniface has a strong claim, having netted one Bundesliga goal more than Marmoush so far this season - seven. Marmoush has scored five times since the Nigerian's last league strike on Matchday 7, however.
Boniface and Marmoush are to face off on Matchday 15 as Frankfurt visit leaders Bayer Leverkusen in what could be a real cracker eight days before Christmas. First on the agenda is Frankfurt hosting Stuttgart in a Saturday evening clash on Matchday 12 - a difficult encounter to predict, but with this pair of strike extraordinaires on the pitch, goals are virtually guranteed to fly in!