Man City takes spending this week to $150M by signing Marmoush to try and save season

Reeling from a damaging loss in the Champions League, Manchester City took its spending this week to around $150 million by signing Egypt forward Omar Marmoush on Thursday in a move that provides some belated backup to star striker Erling Haaland.

The 25-year-old Marmoush joined City from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported 70 million euros ($73 million) following the arrivals of young defenders Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens and Vitor Reis from Palmeiras for a combined $77 million.

City will hope the new signings can ignite its season, which was thrown back into turmoil when the team collapsed to a 4-2 loss at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday. That plunged City to the brink of elimination with one game left in the revamped first stage.

Marmoush is second to Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane on the list of top scorers in the Bundesliga this season, with 15 from 17 games for Frankfurt. He was not in the squad last week for the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund amid negotiations with City, and went on the field after the game for an apparent farewell in front of Frankfurt’s fans.

The move to City caps a rapid rise to stardom for Marmoush, who signed with Frankfurt on a free transfer in 2023 from Wolfsburg, where he scored only five goals the season before.

Replacing Alvarez

It’s not yet clear how Marmoush will fit into Pep Guardiola’s tactics. His best performances this season have come as part of a two-striker formation alongside former PSG forward Hugo Ekitiké, but Guardiola prefers a lone striker in Haaland.

Marmoush can play in wide roles and has generally done so for Egypt, but less successfully than in a central role. He has six goals and three assists in 35 games for his country.

In that sense, Marmoush seems a like-for-like replacement for Julian Alvarez, the versatile Argentina forward who left City for Atletico Madrid in August in a deal reportedly worth more than $103 million after largely being in the shadow of Haaland over the last two years.

Marmoush is the latest in a string of Frankfurt strikers to make lucrative moves to top European clubs, but they haven’t always settled. Frankfurt sold Luka Jovic to Real Madrid in 2019 but he was back on loan just 18 months later and is now at Milan. Randal Kolo Muani left Frankfurt in 2023 for PSG, where he is mostly a bench player and might move this month.

City freshening up

Guardiola has said the club is looking to bring forward future signings to this current transfer window because of injury problems that have rocked his team’s campaign.

The biggest of those is Rodri, the Spain midfielder and Ballon d’Or winner who is out for the season with an ACL injury.

City also has been hit with injury issues at center back, with Ruben Dias, John Stones and Nathan Ake all having time out of action. That explains the moves for Khusanov and Reis, who Guardiola says are ready to come into the team immediately if required.

Not only is City struggling in the Champions League, the team is fifth in its Premier League title defense — 12 points behind leader Liverpool having played one game more.

What they said

“This is a day I will never forget. To sign for Manchester City — one of the best teams in the world — is an amazing feeling. I am delighted, my family are so proud, and we are all very happy to be here in Manchester.” — Omar Marmoush.

“Omar is an accomplished and exciting forward, and I’m delighted he’s joining us. He’s had an outstanding season, and every time we have watched him, he has influenced matches. He has all the attributes a top-class attacker requires. He has outstanding pace and awareness, and he is exceptional in front of goal. He can also play a number of different positions, which is a really valuable asset.” — City director of football Txiki Begiristain.

___

AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth contributed.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer