Perhaps the greatest irony in Hamza’s story is that the best thing for his future may not be what seems best for him in the present.
Yes, not signing a striker will give him a greater chance to start, and it will place him in an advanced position within Flick’s plans. But the presence of a big first-choice name could give him something more important: time.
Time to learn without noise. Time to make mistakes without his slips turning into a crisis, to feature without being required to save Barcelona, to gain experience in La Liga and the Champions League, and to understand how to handle a long season rather than just a successful preparation period.
After two or three seasons, the equation could change completely. By then, Hamza may have gone from a player chasing minutes at Al Ahly to a striker who has played dozens of matches with Barcelona, rubbed shoulders with Europe’s best defenders, featured in the Champions League and learned how to deal with the pressure of the Catalan shirt.
Only then does the question, is Hamza ready to be the first-choice striker, become a perfectly logical one.
For now, though, perhaps the better question is this: how do we maintain the pace of his development without rushing the stages?
Seen from this angle, a new striker does not look like the enemy of Hamza Abdelkarim’s dream. He may be one of its best allies: a striker who carries the burden of the present, while Hamza quietly builds himself up to carry the burden of the future.