FC Barcelona have undoubtedly been seeking answers for their striker position. Their attacking depth has been questioned on numerous occasions, particularly following the departure of Robert Lewandowski and the sale of Ferran Torres. There may be an answer arriving much sooner than planned, in the form of 18-year-old prodigy Hamza Abdelkarim.
At 18 years of age, Abdelkarim is unlikely to be given the sole responsibility as the Number 9 right away but his explosively hot pre-season form has demonstrated that he can certainly come in and compete for that secondary role this coming season.
Explosive pre-season start for Abdelkarim
Abdelkarim officially made his debut for the first team on July 31st in FC Barcelona’s pre-season Friendly clash against Birmingham City. The young Egyptian attacker made the most of his chances, scoring both Barcelona goals in the, 2-2 draw between the two.
Against FC Basel on August 16, Abdelkarim came off the bench and scored a sharp poacher's goal. In 3 pre-season games, he has scored 4 goals. He is giving a stunning show of the quality that Barcelona heirarchy have touted him for months on end to have.
The current run of form follows Abdelkarim’s accelerated promotion. He originally joined Barcelona Atletic during January’s transfer window. After, originally coming fromthe egyptian club, ‘Al Ahly’, the Catalan giants, utilised a purchase option on the, promising striker and permanently signed him in June. This permanent purchase came with a 1.5 million Euro fee and signed him until 2029 with Hansi Flick viewing him as a priority to hold on to.
He has already made a World Cup debut!
The most startling figure in his profile may actually be, as just an 18 year old, Abdelkarim has already managed to participate in this years world cup as part of Egypt’s team and actually featured for them against Belgium. Doing so, he became the youngest Egyptian participant ever, at the FIFA World cup as a youngster of 18 years and 165 days old.
The masterplan
This has been a swift rise indeed. Barcelona believe he could potentially be an upgrade to their current striker options and, there is real belief in his ability to become a superstar. But Barcelona would ideally like him to grow and develop first.
By starting him as a back-up number 9 this year, he will receive adequate time and attention from the staff at the club to develop tactically within Barcelona's system. The next logical progression if everything continues, could be that by the summer of 2027 or 2028 we could even be looking at Abdelkarim’s reign over the striking position as the permanent number 9.
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