The latest rumors say Barcelona is working to bring young Egyptian talent Hamza Abdelkarim to the Bar\u00e7a Atl\u00e8tic squad, with the deal expected to be finalized in January, coinciding with the striker\u2019s 18th birthday. The Catalan club currently appears to be in the best position to sign the forward, who has expressed a strong desire to wear the Blaugrana shirt.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s proposal, according to Egyptian media, would see Abdelkarim join on loan until the end of the season, with Barcelona covering the remainder of his salary and including an option to purchase for four million euros – one million guaranteed and the rest in performance-based incentives. Al Ahly, however, has asked for a higher fixed fee and additional guarantees. Ahmed Shobeir, former Egyptian international goalkeeper, explained on his radio show that \u201cAl Ahly does not oppose Hamza Abdelkarim moving to Bar\u00e7a\u201d but wants some form of economic compensation for the player, whom they see as a long-term asset.<\/p>\n
Abdelkarim has emerged as a natural striker, a classic 9 with strong finishing skills, physical presence, and the ability to play well with his back to goal. He shone at the recent U-17 World Cup in Qatar, scoring against Haiti and Venezuela, and was praised for his Man-of-the-Match performance against Angola at the Africa U-17 Cup, helping Egypt qualify for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Bar\u00e7a Atl\u00e8tic is in urgent need of forwards after injuries sidelined \u00d2scar Gistau, V\u00edctor Barber\u00e1, and Sama Nomoko, and the club sees Abdelkarim as a perfect fit. According to reports, sources close to the player say he has been clear about his wish to move to Barcelona and has asked Al Ahly to allow him to leave in January. If the option to buy is exercised, he would sign a three-year contract and could take part in the first-team pre-season this summer, a promise that reportedly convinced the player and his family to push for the move.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the speculation surrounding his future, Abdelkarim said, \u201cOf course I deal with the pressure. I try not to focus on what is being said\u2026 I focus on my work on the pitch.\u201d He also emphasized his pride in representing Al Ahly: \u201cIt is an honor for me to represent the club,\u201d and added that external interest \u201cmotivates any player.\u201d<\/p>\n
While other European clubs, including Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon, and Lyon, are reportedly monitoring him, Barcelona has positioned itself ahead of competitors thanks to Abdelkarim\u2019s determination to join the club. The negotiations remain ongoing, with the main challenge being to meet Al Ahly\u2019s conditions for compensation while fitting within Barcelona\u2019s financial plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rumors say Barcelona is working to bring young Egyptian talent Hamza Abdelkarim to the Bar\u00e7a Atl\u00e8tic…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":459406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[87093,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-459405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-barcelona-transfer-rumors-news","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}