Better than Marmoush: Man City want to sign "one of the best CFs in Europe"
da bwin： When will we next see Erling Haaland?
da 888casino： On Monday, it was reported that the Norwegian striker ‘will see a specialist’ after suffering a rather nasty-looking ankle injury during Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
As reported by Jamie Jackson of the Guardian, Haaland is expected to be back in time for the Club World Cup, but whether or not he’ll be able to feature again in the Premier League this season remains unclear.
Manchester City seeking to sign world-class striker
Given that the 24-year-old has scored 120 goals in 134 appearances for the Sky Blues, averaging a goal every 94 minutes, you may think signing a new striker would be low down on Man City’s list of priorities. Well, you’d think wrong, it would seem.
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As reported by TEAMtalk, Manchester City are ‘interested’ in signing striker Jonathan David this summer, but face competition from Premier League rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle United, who have all ‘expressed interest’.
David is out of contract at current club LOSC Lille, and is widely expected to depart les Dogues as a free agent in the summer.
Since joining Lille from Gent for a reported fee of €30m (£25m) five years ago, the Canadian has scored an impressive 107 goals in 225 appearances, winning a Ligue 1 title, while 12 of his goals have come in the Champions League.
So, where would he fit in at Manchester CIty?
How Jonathan David would improve Manchester City
Man City not only already have the goal machine himself Haaland, but they also signed Omar Marmoush for around £60m in January.
The Egyptian proved to be the match-winner by the South Coast on Sunday, his fifth goal in 11 Man City appearances so far, most notably bagging a hat-trick against Newcastle in February.
Nevertheless, if Man City can get their hands on David, they must grasp this opportunity with two hands.
Paul Almeida on Twitter describes David as ‘world-class’, while European football expert Zach Lowy labels him ‘one of the best young strikers in Europe’.
Meanwhile, Joe Callaghan of the Guardian notes that David often saves ‘his best for the biggest stage’, so let’s analyse how he compares to Marmoush this season.
David vs Marmoush comparison (2024/25)
Statistics
David
Marmoush
Appearances
42
37
Minutes
3,371
2,766
Goals
23
25
Assists
10
15
Goals – xG
+2.2
+8.5
Shots on target %
44.2%
42.7%
Shot-creating actions
74
146
Take-on success %
48.9%
37.3%
Touches per 90
30.9
38.7
Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and FBref.com
As the table outlines, Marmoush is actually having a better season than David, scoring two more goals to date, but, as noted by Anantaajith Raghuraman and Elias Burke of the Athletic, this is the best form of the Egyptian’s entire career.
Marmoush ranks fifth across Europe’s top-five leagues, as well as second in the Bundesliga, when it comes to goals – xG, which is obviously great, but suggests his form may not be as sustainable as Man City might like.
David, meantime, has been a regular, reliable goal-scorer for many years now, as the table below outlines below he has been more prolific than City’s big January signing.
Jonathan David vs Omar Marmoush season-by-season scoring
Season
David
Marmoush
2024/25
23
25
2023/24
26
17
2022/23
26
6
2021/22
19
3
2020/21
13
8
2019/20
23
9
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt
As outlined, this season is the first time ever that Marmoush has outscored David in a single-season; there’s still time for that to change too of course.
The Egyptian has enjoyed a meteoric rise, plying his trade in the Regionalliga Nord, Germany’s fourth-tier, as recently as 2019/20, as well as the Zweite Bundesliga the year after, the same season David won Ligue 1 with Lille.
David, on the other hand, has produced very consistent goal-scoring numbers ever since he first burst onto the scene at Gent in 2018, so a massive club in Europe is going to sign a top-class centre-forward for free this summer, but will it be Man City?
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