Omar Marmoush: From Free Transfer to Tottenham's New Forward
Omar Marmoush arrives at Tottenham with numbers that demand attention and a story that already carries a scar.
This is not a prospect being talked up on potential alone. This is a forward who forced his way out of the shadows in Germany, earned a move to Manchester City, and then discovered how ruthless life can be inside an elite dressing room.
From free transfer to €59m problem for defences
When Eintracht Frankfurt picked him up for nothing from Wolfsburg in May 2023, it barely caused a ripple. By the end of his first season, Marmoush had 17 goals in all competitions and a reputation for chaos in the final third.
The real eruption came in the first half of 2024-25. In the Bundesliga he produced 15 goals from just 8.9 expected goals, plus 9 assists in 17 league games. By the time City came calling in January 2025, he had 20 goals and 13 assists from 26 matches in all competitions.
Those are elite numbers. So were some of the moments.
He became the first player in Europe’s top five leagues since Lionel Messi in 2019 to score direct free-kicks in three consecutive official matches. Dead balls, open play, left, central, drifting wide – it didn’t matter. He kept finding ways to hurt teams.
City responded the way City usually do: with a cheque. They paid £59m to drag him out of Frankfurt and into Pep Guardiola’s rotation.
Highs, a Wembley low, and a battle for minutes
The start at Manchester City hinted at a perfect fit. Marmoush rattled in the first hat-trick of his career against Newcastle. He then delivered the winner against Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarter-final and smashed in a long-range strike against the same side in the league, a goal that ended up being voted the club’s best of the season.
Then came Wembley.
In the 2025 FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland handed him the ball for a penalty. It was a moment of trust, a chance to write himself into City folklore. Dean Henderson saved it. City lost.
For some players, that becomes the defining image. Nedum Onuoha refuses that reading.
“When I see Marmoush, I don't remember the missed penalty,” the former City defender told the BBC. “I see the power he possesses in some of his runs in behind the defenders.”
The numbers at City are respectable if not spectacular: 16 goals in 62 games in all competitions since his arrival, including 8 in 36 during the 2025-26 season. The problem lies in the detail.
His Premier League involvement has shrunk. He started only eight league games in 2025-26 and logged around 700 minutes – less than he managed in half a season when he first arrived. Three goals and three assists in the league, from 3.53 expected goals, show he more or less finished what he was given. The issue wasn’t wastefulness. It was opportunity.
Onuoha points to the obvious barrier: competition. Haaland locks down the pure No 9 role. Around him, City stack the pitch with specialist No 10s and wingers. The zones Marmoush likes to roam in are already crowded with stars.
That’s why Tottenham feels different. It feels like a door opening, not closing.
Built for De Zerbi’s chaos
Labeling Marmoush simply as a striker doesn’t do him justice. At Frankfurt he played as a central forward, a second striker and off the left. At City he has led the line, drifted wide and operated off another forward.
That blend of roles fits neatly into Roberto De Zerbi’s attacking blueprint. His sides want forwards who interchange, drop deep to receive, then explode into the spaces behind a stretched defence. They are asked to be connectors and finishers, runners and creators.
Onuoha is convinced Marmoush is at his best when he lives on the edge of the offside line.
“Although he is good when he drops towards the ball, I think he is better when he plays on the shoulder of the defender,” he said. “He needs a team that consistently plays him into the spaces behind the defence and forces the opponent to run towards their own goal.”
Tottenham look far more likely to give him that than City ever did.
A different profile to Spurs’ current forwards
Opta’s data for the 2025-26 Premier League season underlines why Spurs have moved. Per 90 minutes, Marmoush outperforms both Dominic Solanke and Richarlison in most attacking metrics, aside from aerial duels.
His output per 90 reads like this:
- 0.77 goals and assists
- 3.86 shots
- 1.55 chances created
- 5.67 progressive carries
- 1.29 successful dribbles
- 6.82 touches in the box
- 11.46 runs in behind the defence
That is the profile of a forward who doesn’t just wait for service. He drags the ball up the pitch, isolates defenders, and carves out his own shooting lanes. Against low blocks, when Spurs often run out of ideas and angles, that matters.
Onuoha sees a tactical fit as much as a statistical one.
“Sometimes it's just about how well a player fits the team,” he said. “Marmoush's ability to run in behind the defence and link up play could be very important for Tottenham. They won't hesitate to play balls in behind the defence and force the opponent to retreat.”
Not Solanke’s replacement – his partner?
Signing Marmoush doesn’t have to push Solanke aside. It might unlock him.
Marmoush has always been comfortable playing off a more physical presence. At Frankfurt he thrived when he had someone to bounce off, someone to pin centre-backs while he hunted the spaces around them.
Solanke offers exactly that. He can occupy defenders, lean on them, win the first contact. Marmoush can then drift wide, drop between the lines, or time his bursts into the gaps created by the press and the knockdowns.
“Solanke is different from Marmoush, as he has a greater physical presence,” Onuoha said. “I can imagine the goalkeeper playing a low ball to Solanke, with Marmoush coming from behind him to receive it, and that becomes the start of the attack.
“Each of them can complement the other. Playing with two strikers could bring out more of Marmoush's strengths.”
From a free transfer in Frankfurt to a £59m bet at City and now a fresh start at Tottenham, Marmoush’s career has rarely followed a straight line. The missed penalty at Wembley still lingers in the background, a reminder of how thin the margins are at the top.
At Spurs, he gets something every forward craves more than anything else: the chance to redefine what people remember.
