Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has told forward Omar Marmoush that the onus is on him to make a final decision on his future at the club.
Since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025, the 27-year-old striker has struggled for Premier League starts, managing just 22 alongside 15 bench appearances. Although he has scored 10 league goals, he remains second choice to Erling Haaland, a position unlikely to shift under new manager Maresca.
After Marmoush scored twice in Sunday’s 3-1 friendly win over Atletico Madrid in Seoul, Maresca compared the Egyptian’s plight to goalkeeper James Trafford, who joined Leeds last week after lacking first-team chances.
Asked about Marmoush’s future, Maresca said: “The answer has to be similar to the one I answer about James Trafford. Players work every day, they want to play so when they don’t play they are not happy.
“Omar did not play a lot last year so his desire is probably to play more minutes. It doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to play more minutes here but it’s also his decision, and he needs to decide.”
City’s pre-season tour of Asia is missing Haaland, Rodri and Rayan Cherki, as well as England trio Elliot Anderson, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly, following their World Cup participation.
Maresca, however, expressed satisfaction with his squad’s progress, saying: “I’m very happy. Especially because the players since we started have been open-minded. They want to understand and want to learn why we do things.
“I know that when you join a new club you try to install new patterns or different ideas. The most important thing is we are getting better.
“The path is a huge path to improve things. But I can see we are trying what we do in training, and we are getting better at that.”
City will finish their preparations for the new Premier League season by taking on Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Attention will then turn to City’s opening league game of the campaign, which will see them host Bournemouth on 23 August, before they travel to Crystal Palace five days later.
