Barcelona Transfer News: Deal agreed for Egyptian wonderkid

FC Barcelona have sealed the signing of Al Ahly’s Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim, according to Egyptian football news outlet Onze Masr.

“Hamza Abdelkarim has finalized his transfer to FC Barcelona. I wish him all the success there and that he never returns to Egypt,” said Al Ahly’s football director Walid Salah El-Din, as reported by Onze Masr.

Abdelkarim is 18 years old and has scored 12 goals in 19 appearances for the Egypt U17 team.

The young striker has played 363 minutes of senior football thus far, with the majority of those minutes coming from six appearances in the Egyptian League Cup.

On the international stage, Abdelkarim scored twice in four games at the 2025 U17 World Cup, against Haiti and Venezuela in a win and a draw, respectively.

He netted another three times at the U17 African Cup of Nations, scoring his team’s final goal in a 4-3 loss to South Africa and a penalty in a 2-1 win over Cameroon, although it was not enough for his team was unable to advance to the qualifying round.

Barca replenishes its youth ranks

At nearly the same time as the club agreed to sell Dro Fernandez to PSG and Andres Cuenca to Como, Barcelona is set to complete its transfer for Abdelkarim.

Fabrizio Romano recently reported that this deal is part of a strategy, where Barcelona wants to sign young players for modest fees and let them develop with Barca B before moving to the first team.

It was the same approach the club intended to use with Roony Bardghji, who was initially registered with the B team but never played there as he joined the first team quickly.

Similarly, Barca are closing in on deals for Norwich’s young Englishman Ajay Tavares and Defensor Sporting’s Patricio Pacifico.

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