Barcelona hit futher complications in signing of 18-year-old forward – Football España

Barcelona’s recruitment effort for Barca Atletic this month has been in motion for much of the last month, but the first move the Catalan giants went for continues to be held up. A deal with Al-Ahly for Hamza Abdelkarim has reportedly been agreed, but the transfer continues to be held up.

The Blaugrana have agreed a deal to bring in Juwensley Onstein to strengthen their Barca Atletic side, as Juliano Belletti looks to make a promotion push to get the affiliate side back into the third tier. Meanwhile left-back Patricio Pacifico is expected to follow him in the door too. Reports in Egypt had confirmed a deal for Abdelkarim to finally complete his move to Barcelona, but MD say that the deal is not yet completed.

🚨 Ronald Araújo’s evolution after his one-month break has been very positive. Apart from improving mentally, he’s now also close to getting his physique back to 100%. [@scapde_45] 🇺🇾 pic.twitter.com/3n7ruD8o8H

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 28, 2026

Abdelkarim move to Barcelona faces complications

The Catalan daily explain that the club are a little more cautious about the deal to bring Abdelkarim to the club. The deal has not been made official due to administrative complications in the deal, although they do not give further details on what. Abdelkarim, for his part, has bid farewell to his teammates and is awaiting the completion of the deal.

Terms of agreement with Al-Ahly

Barcelona have given the green light for the move to be completed on an initial loan deal, with an options to buy. The option to buy will be worth €3m, but that fee could rise to €5m with variables included. There is also a clause in the deal that will make the option to buy obligatory, depending on the amount of game time Abdelkarim sees.

The 18-year-old forward has made nine appearances for the Al-Ahly first-team, and is regarded as a classic number nine of the genre. Barcelona were impressed by him in his outings for the Egypt under-17 side, where he has 12 goals in 19 appearances.