It’s late in the evening of June 2, 2029. Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, an arena still bearing the gleam and scent of fresh renovation, awaits the presentation of the Uefa Champions League trophy. The anthems have been played, the medals awarded and a majority of the 105,000 spectators present are bellowing out partisan songs.
Foregrounded in the grouping of victorious players, in their cherry-and-blue stripes, are three precious young forwards, the dashing front line of the new European club champions, a Barcelona whose success in the most prestigious club tournament has, happily, coincided with the season their rebuilt arena won hosting rights for the final.
This trio are at once an endorsement of Barca’s high reputation for shrewd youth development, but also testify to the sharp-eyed global scouting the club have focused on in their climb to the summit of club football. The trio of young stars receiving the applause are a winger born in Kuwait, a Spanish prodigy of Moroccan heritage, and an incisive centre-forward from Egypt.
If this scenario requires a leap of the imagination, it is not entirely a fantasy. As Barcelona announced, at the close of the January winter transfer window, the capture of Hamza Abdelkarim, initially on loan from Cairo giants Al Ahly but with an option to make the transfer long-term, the vision, at least, became clear.
At 18, Abdelkarim is one for the future, but he’s also a contemporary of Lamine Yamal, the wonderkid born in Catalonia to a Moroccan father, a phenomenon who has impacted hugely on the present, already a European championship winner with Spain. Lamine’s youthful success at Barca was certainly a stimulus to Abdelkarim to press for a move to the reigning La Liga champions.
Likewise the progress made by Roony Bardghji, the son of Syrian parents who moved the family from Kuwait to Sweden when their gifted firstborn was six. Bardghji signed for Barca in the summer 2025 transfer window as a teenager, and in the six months since he has eased himself quickly from the club’s feeder squad, Barcelona Atletic, into the plans of Hansi Flick, head coach of the first team. He has already scored goals, assisted, racked up 17 appearances and made his senior international debut for Sweden.
Barca’s intention with Abdelkarim, who has made only a handful of first-team appearances, mainly in domestic Cups, for Al Ahly, is that he should adapt to the club’s style and expectations at La Masia, the nursery that steers young footballers up the development ladder to Barcelona Atletic and, then, if they thrive, to Barca itself. The club’s recruitment executives believe he will make that final step quickly, hence the determination with which they negotiated with Al Ahly for Abdelkarim’s signature.
He fits a particular profile Barcelona were seeking, a centre-forward who, in years ahead could complement the wing play of Lamine and Bardghji in a future Barca where the likes of Pedri, the elegant midfield creator, still only 23, and playmaker Fermin Lopez, 22, would still be maintaining the influence they currently have in the side.
It’s a captivating vision. This being Barcelona, there is also a short-term presentational aspect to the capture of Abdelkarim, who shone at the under-17 World Cup for Egypt in November, alerting various European clubs to the fact here was a genuine prospect.
The Catalan club are delighted to have landed the prize, and to have signed a coveted young goalscorer in the same week that, to their disappointment, an outstanding La Masia graduate, Dro Fernandez, 18, chose to quit Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain.
The timing is significant. There will be presidential elections at Barcelona this year and for any successful candidate, including the incumbent, Joan Laporta, there must be a vote-winning emphasis on how well they would curate the club’s world-class youth development system and make it a guarantee of a prosperous long-term.
Abdelkarim can be part of that. His promise is exceptional. He has already acquired the nickname ‘The Egyptian Haaland’, after Manchester’s Erling Haaland, for his height, his speed escaping a marker, the power of his left-footed shooting and his confidence and appetite for goals.
There’s a tactical nous to his game, too, apparent in his leadership of the age-group teams he has spearheaded for club and country. The likes of Lamine and Bardghji should soon be taking enthusiastic note of how Abdelkarim’s runs open space for players around him.
Like Haaland – the son of a Norwegian international footballer, Alfie – Abdelkarim has strong sporting genes. His father was a talented volleyball player, renowned for his leap, a quality evident in Hamza, strong in the air and an imposing target for crosses. Two of his aunts also excelled at volleyball.
Coming from a sporting family had its advantages, as did a comfortable Cairo home and relatively elite education. Struck by his maturity, some close observers of Egyptian football made a case that, in spite of his limited appearances for the Al Ahly first team, he should have been at least considered for a place in the full Egypt squad that, two weeks ago, finished fourth at the Africa Cup of Nations.
He might have been a useful option from the Pharaohs’ bench, or at least benefited from a month practicing alongside, and learning, from the likes of Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.
“I personally pushed for him to be called up for the Afcon camp and make his international debut even before his senior club debut,” says Amr Nageeb Fahmy, the respected journalist and author of The Pharaohs Hegemony, about Egypt’s pre-eminence in African football. He cites a precedent: “The striker Mido, who was similar to Hamza, was capped for Egypt at 17.”
Mido, whose club career spanned spells in the Netherlands, France, Italy and England, had played a handful of games for Zamalek, when, at 17, he moved to Gent in Belgium. Salah joined Basel of Switzerland, launch pad for a glorious career, above all with Liverpool, when he was 19. Abdelkarim may never reach the heights of a Salah but, carefully managed by Barcelona, he has a chance to accelerate his development.
And indeed to look around him and see that he is somewhere where young potential is encouraged to thrive. Barcelona will sooner rather than later have a vacancy at centre-forward given that Robert Lewandowski, the current number nine for the senior team, turns 38 in August.
That would probably rule Lewandowski out of that fantasy scenario where a Barca strike force full of zest mounts an irresistible challenge for a 2029 European Cup at their own stadium – Barca have shown a desire to stage that year’s Champions League final – with Lamine still going from strength to strength and Bardghji complementing him with his purposeful tricks on another wing. And, just maybe, they’d have an elegant Egyptian up front with them.
