Omar Marmoush: Why Man City have spent £59m on Eintracht Frankfurt's 'new Mohamed Salah' after he threatened to beat Harry Kane to the Bundesliga Golden Boot

For the first time in a long, long time, Manchester City are in the midst of a crisis season. Whatever cycle they had going on up at the Etihad Stadium has ended and they went into the January window knowing that they were desperately in need of some new talent for Pep Guardiola to work with.

Their only reliable goal-scorer this term has been Erling Haaland, and even then he's been wildly out of form since telling Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to "stay humble". The likes of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden haven't held up their end of the bargain when it comes to finding the net, and City needed reinforcements if they're going to salvage something from this campaign.

City's search for such a player took them to Germany's newest sensation, Omar Marmoush of Eintracht Frankfurt. The Egypt international has been a well-respected Bundesliga attacker for a while now, but his 2024 form saw him enter a different conversation altogether.

City weren't the only side linked with a move for Marmoush, as Liverpool were long reported as an alternative destination, either as a replacement to or to be a partner for countryman Mohamed Salah, while Arsenal and Manchester United were linked with moves over the autumn too.

The Premier League champions have paid an initial €70 million (£59m/$73m) to move to the front of the queue mid-season and while that is undoubtedly a lot to spend on a player who has never previously hinted at reaching the heights he has this term, there's little reason to think Marmoush won't be a success at City over the next few seasons, particularly with his peak years still ahead of him.

GOAL has done some digging into the forward's rise: