Barcelona have secured the permanent signing of Egyptian prodigy Hamza Abdelkarim from Al Ahly, completing a deal worth an initial €1.5 million for one of North Africa’s most exciting young forwards.
The 18-year-old initially arrived at Barça on loan in January, a low-profile move that quickly gathered momentum as he lit up the club’s youth ranks. His blend of pace, movement and penalty-box instinct convinced the Catalan giants to trigger the option to buy, ending Al Ahly’s hopes of keeping a player they had fast-tracked through their own system.
Abdelkarim’s rise has been meteoric. Having joined Al Ahly in 2020, he became the club’s youngest player of the century when he came off the bench in a league match against Petrojet in February 2025. He went on to make nine senior appearances in all competitions before Barcelona’s scouts moved decisively to bring him to Spain.
Registered initially with Barça Atletic, bureaucratic hurdles delayed his debut for the reserve side, forcing him to start instead with the under-19s. Once on the pitch, he wasted no time. He scored on his debut against Huesca and followed that with a hat trick versus UD Montecarlo, quickly emerging as the focal point of the youth attack.
Despite his goals, Abdelkarim also experienced the harsher side of elite football, featuring in two painful final defeats: against Real Betis in the Copa del Rey Juvenil and against Real Madrid in the Copa de Campeones. Coaches at the club, however, view those setbacks as formative steps in his development.
His performances in Spain have reverberated back home. Abdelkarim has forced his way into Egypt’s senior national team and into their World Cup squad in North America, where he has been handed the iconic No. 9 shirt. He made his international debut in a 1-0 win over Russia and later appeared off the bench in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Brazil in Cleveland.
Now part of an Egypt attack that includes Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, Abdelkarim will face Belgium, New Zealand and Iran in Group G. For Barcelona, the tournament offers an early glimpse of whether their latest gamble on youth can grow into the club’s next great No. 9.
