Mohamed Salah isn’t slowing down with age. If anything, the 32-year-old is speeding up. In his past seven league campaigns for Liverpool, he’s averaged at least a goal per game. This term, the Egyptian King isn’t letting up on those contributions while providing his comrades with plenty of scoring opportunities.
Behind this is an unwavering commitment to keeping his body lean season after season. And the wisdom gained from years at the top level. If he doesn’t have quite the same elastic pace as he did (he arguably still does), the optics on the striker’s all-round game are just as good—perhaps even better.
Understandably, many eyes are on Salah, the megastar with sights on the Premier League title, who recently went public about his unresolved contract situation on Merseyside. Yet what’s similarly striking is the emergence of another Egyptian offensive talent. Indeed, Omar Marmoush is making a big impression with Eintracht Frankfurt in the German top flight.
From almost nowhere, Marmoush has become one of the most clinical forwards in European soccer, netting 11 goals and laying on seven assists in his last ten league games. A powerful runner to back up his sharp finishing, Marmoush, whose numbers were respectable for 2023/24’s sixth-placed side, has propelled The Eagles to second position in the Bundesliga this campaign after little under a third of the fixtures played.
Salah: An Impossible Act To Follow?
Salah and Marmoush are excellent professionals in their own right. But, given they hail from the same African country, it’s tempting to compare the two and consider whether Marmoush, aged 25, has what it takes to become Egypt’s next phenomenon.
In prime condition, Salah is a difference-maker for Liverpool.AFP via Getty Images
In pure soccer terms, it’s an enormous task for Marmoush to replicate Salah’s consistency year on year. Holding aloft every trophy on offer with the Reds—apart from the Europa League—the relentless number 11 has only occasionally gone off the boil, reliability that has ultimately resulted in greatness. He’s one of Liverpool’s best-ever attackers.
Equally hard is matching Salah’s broader influence. As well as shaping perceptions of the Arab and Muslim community, the forward’s perseverance and achievements have shown the path to people inside and outside his field, not least in his homeland.
“The impact on players is extremely strong. After seeing Salah, they all believe that going elite and playing at the top level is not a dream but (can be) a reality,” Mustafa Abu Karat, the CEO of World Youth Football Academy in Cairo, Egypt, tells me.
“Given the background Salah comes from, how he was able to travel for so many hours every day (to play), and could only manage a specific meal most of the time—koshari (consisting of pasta, rice, and legumes), as it wasn’t expensive—was a message to all players. And to the parents.”
As a result, whereas soccer still doesn’t represent the most attainable successful career path, more Egyptian parents can see the rewards of investing in their children’s sporting ambitions. On a more general societal level, it’s a similar story.
“Salah sends hope to others outside the sports industry that whatever you are looking for, you can reach the highest level. Today, Salah is an example used in all conversations connected to work, passion, the future, and more,” Karat elaborates.
From the small village of Nagrig, Salah is the obvious reference point for many Egyptians.picture alliance via Getty Images
Like with most icons, not everything is perfect, however. Despite coming agonizingly close, Salah has yet to win the coveted Africa Cup of Nations tournament with Egypt, and he couldn’t drag The Pharaohs through the group stages at the World Cup in 2018—his only appearance in the global event. Among some fans, there’s a sense he worries about injury on international duty and struggles to hit top form.
Marmoush’s Incredible Rise
As far as Salah’s reach extends, Marmoush shows that Egypt has enough room for two soccer reference points—even if the latter has more to prove. Marmoush left Stuttgart for Frankfurt on a free transfer last summer when his market value was low, but his worth has since multiplied. Transfermarkt suggests he’s now a €40 million ($42 million) player. Though not stunning, more stellar performances will see that figure shoot up.
His is a tale of perseverance. In that regard, he perhaps best follows Salah’s footsteps. While the Liverpool player had to endure spells outside the lineup earlier in his career at Chelsea, where he was something of a misfit, Marmoush has worked his way up from a modest level: Wadi Degla, a state-of-the-art academy sports club in Egypt but with a soccer team now in the nation’s second tier, and then Wolfsburg’s second squad before breaking into the Bundesliga.
Frankfurt is the latest Marmoush beneficiary, putting faith in characters like him rather than paying up for alternatives in the market. It’s among the reasons coach Dino Toppmöller’s men are outperforming their financial projections better than any comer in Europe, according to Off The Pitch’s findings.
In that sense, he’s been a revelation.
“We (in Egypt) can see a new Salah in the making,” Karat says of Marmoush before delivering the killer point and question. “Today, Marmoush is seen as the next Salah. The only thing is: Does he have what it takes to keep going like Salah has?” If Marmoush can be the man in the Egyptian national setup and show he isn’t a one-season wonder, he will have his own legacy.