Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, upon returning to action from the international hiatus, will face their toughest test yet in Ruben Amorim-led Manchester United, who are currently four places above them in the table. Guardiola, however, will be screwing after learning the news that Omar Marmoush was substituted early in Egypt's goalless draw with Burkina Faso with an injury.
Predictably, international breaks are always the perfect, or imperfect, time for Premier League players to pick up injuries – and that's the case of Marmoush, who was signed by the English side from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025. Since, in 28 outings, he's scored a total of eight goals and notched a further four assists in City colours.
There are fresh concerns over whether the Cairo-born talisman, who is commonly admired as one of the best strikers in world football, will be fit and raring to go for his side's upcoming encounter against their arch-rivals United. As alluded to, Marmoush was replaced by Osama Faisal early on after suffering a tackle from Mohamed Zougrana of Burkina Faso.
Watch Mohamed Zougrana's tackle on Omar Marmoush below:
Extent of Omar Marmoush's Recent Injury Ahead of Manchester Derby Revealed
omar marmoush
Given that City, who were formerly four-in-a-row champions of England's top fight, have endured a tricky start to the season – one victory and two defeats – and will be looking to get back to winning ways against United, being with the talented Marmoush could well be the difference between jubilation and despondency after the derby on Sunday 14 September.
Injury expert, Physio Scout on X (formerly Twitter), has offered their verdict on the 26-year-old and, more importantly, how long it could take him to return to the pitch after being substituted a mere 10 minutes into his nation's 2026 World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso. They wrote: "Omar Marmoush had to come off early in Egypt's clash vs Burkina Faso on international duty with 'a bruised knee ligament' as per Egyptian team doctor, Mohamed Abu El-Ela.
"The tackler's contact with the outside of Marmoush's leg raises concern for a potential MCL injury. Marmoush was later seen palpating the inside of his knee, which further supports this suspicion. He would be quite lucky to get away with just a bone bruise/contusion injury. But let's wait and see."
omar marmoush
After suggesting that Marmoush, formerly of Wolfsburg and St. Pauli, and those of an Etihad Stadium persuasion, could be lucky that he could get away with a mere bone bruise, which would take less than a week to recover from. A grade 1 injury, however, would take between a 1–3 week period; while that could increase to 3–6 weeks for a Grade 2 injury.
Confirming that a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury would mean that the Egypt international woudl miss the Manchester derby, they wrote: "If scans has confirmed he has suffered an MCL sprain, it'd be unlikely he'd feature for the Manchester derby. Further comment from Pep/Man City is needed."
Concluding their analysis by saying that Guardiola – who is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers in football history – will provide further information in due course, perhaps in his pre-Manchester derby press conference, they insisted that clear footage and alternate angles were difficult to find.
Beyond the all-important derby between Amorim and Guardiola, the tough fixtures continue to pour in for the latter. The Citizens kickstart their 2025/26 Champions League campaign against Italian outfit Napoli on Thursday 18 September before travelling to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal three days after.