Bundesliga
Breaking down Magic Marmoush
Omar Marmoush has fuelled Eintracht Frankfurt's early season form, steering them into the top three and to a thrilling 3-3 draw against Bayern Munich. With eight goals to his name, bundesliga.com looks at the rise of German football's Egyptian Pharaoh.
"It's not easy to just say, 'We'll defend him'. Should we double-team him? Also not so simple. A good player always finds the spaces. It's obviously difficult to keep a player like that in check," said Holstein Kiel coach Marcel Rapp about Marmoush. Defending against the Egyptian has been quite the dilemma for Bundesliga defences.
Over the past decade or so, Frankfurt have consistently given a platform for elite forwards to excel in the Bundesliga - the likes of Luka Jović, Sébastien Haller, Randal Kolo Muani and Jay-Jay Okocha come to mind from the past. Marmoush is the latest in that long line.
It has been a fairly patient wait for the 25-year-old to hit top form, and after stints at Wolfsburg, St. Pauli and VfB Stuttgart he seems to have finally found his place being the central hub of Dino Toppmöller's Eintracht side.
So what's behind the magic of Marmoush's performances?
Watch: Omar Marmoush's rise to the top
The indispensable Pharaoh
After failing to land a starting spot at his previous Bundesliga clubs, Marmoush is now a firm starter at Eintracht and arguably their biggest player. This season, he has started every single game as part of the forward line-up, mostly alongside Hugo Ekitiké, whose permanent arrival this summer has brought a lot of excitement.
As part of that front two, Marmoush now has the licence to drop off and stretch defences with his dynamism on and off the ball.
"He's responsible for producing danger up front," said Toppmöller after the 4-2 win at Kiel. "Shooting in goals and setting up others. He's very difficult to defend due to his pace and how fast he can run deep."
If that wasn't enough, he's confident on set-pieces too, as shown when he stepped up to convert a penalty in the 19th minute away to Beşiktaş midweek in the UEFA Europa League.
The Eintracht boss puts it best. Marmoush is a defender's nightmare these days. No wonder he's the Eagles' indispensable Pharaoh.
Watch: Marmoush and Ekitiké flourishing at Frankfurt
Record-breaking start
He's making his case to be the main man at Deutsche Bank Park week in, week out. With eight goals in his first six Bundesliga games, he overtook Harry Kane as the league's top scorer. Not only that, he is also Eintracht's first ever player to score eight goals at this stage of a Bundesliga season.
Marmoush has evolved into a high-volume shooter at Eintracht. The former Stuttgart man has always had a clean strike, and a glance at his Bundesliga goalreel will show you exactly that. That volume shooting combined with his ability to arrive into dangerous areas into the box is evidenced in his non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) per 90 minutes rate of 0.59.
When you can claim to have shot more (27) than the likes of Deniz Undav (22) and Victor Boniface (24), Marmoush is the forward to be extra wary of. Especially on the counter-attack, which is a strength of Eintracht's, the Egypt international has already struck twice, more than anyone in the Bundesliga.
Watch: The best of Omar Marmoush in 2024/25 so far
Eintracht's complete attacking machine
What makes Marmoush such a threat is not only his goalscoring prowess, but rather the all-round threat he brings on the pitch as an attacker. To put that into context, last season, Marmoush's six assists in the league was an Eintracht high. This total came from a team-leading 38 shots assisted by the Egyptian.
Overall, he is able to manufacture chances for his teammates through his passing as well as dribbling.
Marmoush is a finisher and initiator and features amongst the top 10 Bundesliga players for both goal threat with efficiency and creating goalscoring chances often.
Unstoppable Marmoush
When you can claim to be the most fouled player in a league, there's an iron-clad argument to be made that you are indeed unstoppable, which Marmoush has been at the start of this season. The former Wolfsburg man has won 54% of his direct duels.
Marmoush being difficult to defend against is in major part down to his relentless running whilst defending but also in manufacturing opportunities. The Egypt international has 146 sprints recorded thus far this season. A willing runner in behind high defensive lines but also an effective channel presence, Marmoush is quite the annoyance. The fact that he's been the most fouled player in the league with 15 fouls drawn also speaks to that.
Those 146 sprints? Marmoush has showcased his rapid nature already this season, reaching a hugely impressive speed of 35.8 km/h. There's also a lot to be said for the timing of his runs that with his pace, he has only been caught offside twice this term.
Watch: High-Flying Eagles - Fantastic Frankfurt
So then, after recording 18 goals plus assists last term in 29 appearances, Marmoush has already reached half that figure in just five games.
With fixtures against Bayer Leverkusen and Union Berlin coming up, it is Marmoush's opportunity to show that he can perform against the very best that the league has to offer and therefore elevate himself to true star status.
Magic Marmoush has a trick or two under his sleeve just yet.