Manchester City’s dejected squad will have just been beginning to meander towards their recovery session when the third new arrival of a busy January window was announced, grinning with the No 7 shirt.
Costing an initial £59million, which is likely to rise to £63m with bonuses, 25-year-old Omar Marmoush is the sort of signing who can ignite a season. He talked about his dreams coming true, about how Pep Guardiola can utilise him anywhere across the front three or in behind someone in Erling Haaland whom he labelled ‘a machine’.
Marmoush’s campaign so far with Eintracht Frankfurt, 15 goals in the Bundesliga (only Harry Kane, with 16, has more), is evidence that the Egyptian should offer City more threat in the final third.