Around 36 hours before Omar Marmoush was announced as Manchester City’s third signing in four days, the case for him had never seemed stronger. There was more than one dramatic comeback in the Champions League this week and, as they prepared for what proved a shellacking at Paris Saint-Germain, City may have noted the scoreline from Spain: Atletico Madrid 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen, with both of the victors’ goals by Julian Alvarez.
They took his tally to 16 goals for the season, nine in his last 12 outings. Pep Guardiola has a policy of letting players leave if they want to and Atletico’s £82m offer was persuasive, but the Argentinian was a favourite of the City manager. He left a void that Marmoush will be charged with filling, of being a Swiss army knife of an attacking option: starter and substitute, striker and No 10 and player who can come inside from a starting berth on the sides, a sidekick for Erling Haaland or a deputy for him. Full of pace and goals, Marmoush may be better equipped than Alvarez for the job of a quasi-winger; that never suited the World Cup winner, but his work rate was such that Guardiola even employed him as a No 8 on occasion.
