Hamza Abdelkarim’s rapid rise from limited first-team opportunities at Al Ahly to the Barcelona squad has raised an intriguing question: would the arrival of an established striker threaten his progress, or provide the ideal environment for his development?
Only a year ago, Abdelkarim was competing for occasional minutes in Cairo. Since then, the 18-year-old has been called up by Egypt for the World Cup, made his first-team breakthrough at Barcelona and scored against Al Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy. He also finished pre-season as the club’s leading scorer.
That remarkable sequence has put him into contention for the centre-forward position at Barcelona. However, it has also created a difficult dilemma for the club: can Abdelkarim be trusted to lead the attack, or would an experienced forward give him the time and protection needed to mature?
To understand his current position, it is important to consider where he started.
Abdelkarim left Al Ahly without having established himself as a regular in the senior side. His official record did not suggest that a move to Barcelona was the natural reward for a long list of major achievements. His appearances had been limited, with his most significant opportunities coming in lower-profile competitions.
His move to Europe was therefore initially viewed as a major investment in potential rather than recognition of a fully developed career.
Hossam Hassan then handed him one of the biggest opportunities available to a player of his age by selecting him for Egypt’s World Cup squad. The decision surprised many observers because of Abdelkarim’s limited senior experience.
He appeared in four matches at the tournament, playing a total of 56 minutes. He neither scored nor provided an assist, meaning the statistics alone do not point to an outstanding individual campaign. The importance of the experience lay elsewhere.
At 18, Abdelkarim found himself sharing a squad with players such as Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, while experiencing the intensity of a World Cup and the scrutiny that comes with it. Egypt reached the last 16 for the first time in their history.
His arrival at Barcelona represented another enormous step, but his performances during pre-season made the move even more significant. Abdelkarim did not merely train with the first team; he took the opportunities given to him and entered the competition for the centre-forward role.
He scored twice against Birmingham City, added another goal against Basel and found the net against Al Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy. Those goals took his pre-season total to four and prompted manager Hans-Dieter Flick to assess him in more than simply flattering terms.
Flick highlighted Abdelkarim’s ability to attack crosses, hold up the ball and move effectively inside the penalty area all key qualities for the striker Barcelona want.
That changed the nature of the discussion at the club. The issue was no longer whether Abdelkarim deserved an opportunity with the first team, but whether he could play a meaningful role during the new season.
Yet the clearest indication of Barcelona’s thinking may have come from Flick and sporting director Deco themselves.
After the victory over Al Ahly, Flick confirmed that Barcelona were still looking for a new centre-forward. Deco, meanwhile, stressed how difficult it would be to replace a player of Robert Lewandowski’s stature. The message was clear: the club does not want to enter a long season relying entirely on an 18-year-old who has not yet completed a full campaign in European football.
That search should not be interpreted as a negative verdict on Abdelkarim. Barcelona can be convinced by his talent while also recognising that placing the full responsibility for the attack on a teenager would be unreasonable.
At first glance, a new striker would appear to reduce Abdelkarim’s minutes and make a starting place harder to secure. From the perspective of his development, however, the outcome could be very different.
If Abdelkarim became Barcelona’s main striker immediately, every match would bring intense scrutiny. Scoring would lead to claims that he was the discovery of the season; three games without a goal would bring comparisons with Lewandowski. A missed chance could become the focus of criticism, while any decline in the team’s form would make the centre-forward position an obvious target.
That would be a heavy burden for an 18-year-old.
An established striker could instead give Abdelkarim the chance to train every day alongside an elite player, study his movement and learn from his experience. He could receive genuine minutes in La Liga, the domestic cups and the Champions League, while also starting matches when Flick rotates his team.
This would allow him to contribute without being expected to decide every game.
The irony of Abdelkarim’s story may be that what appears less attractive in the short term could be better for his future. Not signing another striker would give him a clearer route to the starting line-up, but an experienced forward could provide something even more valuable: time.
Time to learn away from the spotlight, make mistakes without turning them into a crisis, gain experience of La Liga and the Champions League, and discover how to manage a full season rather than a successful pre-season.
In two or three years, the situation could look entirely different. Abdelkarim may have moved from searching for minutes at Al Ahly to playing dozens of matches for Barcelona, facing Europe’s best defenders, appearing in the Champions League and learning how to handle the pressure of the Catalan club’s shirt.
Only then would the question of whether he is ready to be Barcelona’s first-choice striker be entirely logical.
For now, the more important question is how to preserve the speed of his development without forcing him to skip essential stages. Viewed in that way, a new striker would not be an enemy of Hamza Abdelkarim’s ambition. He could be one of its strongest allies carrying the responsibility of the present while Abdelkarim quietly prepares to take on the demands of the future.
