Hamza Abdelkarim is the ‘humble’ 18-year-old Egyptian who scored two on his Barcelona debut

“Hamza (Abdelkarim) is very humble,” Hansi Flick said in the press room following the friendly between Birmingham City and Barcelona.

It would take less than five minutes for that to be confirmed.

Barcelona had just played their first match in front of a crowd this season, drawing 2-2 after 90 minutes of normal time before Birmingham won a penalty shootout. Abdelkarim scored both of Barca’s goals.

After the match, the Egypt forward waited for the media on one of the corners of the pitch. He joked about the rumours that he shared a room with Mohamed Salah during the World Cup.

“Same bedroom? No!” Abdelkarim said, smiling shyly as he shook his head.

A journalist then told the 18-year-old how unbelievable it was that he had scored two goals in his first match for the senior side. “The whole team helped, it was a team effort,” he replied.

The stadium’s public address system blares out, forcing him to stop.

“They saved me!” he said with a laugh, making it clear that, rather than the match, this was the most difficult part of the evening for him.

Flick was right. Abdelkarim’s humility is as evident as his youth, which is reflected in a few traces of teenage acne on his cheeks and a shy smile typical of someone who isn’t used to being the focus of media attention.

His modesty has not changed over the past eight months, despite signing for Barcelona, becoming the youngest player to represent Egypt at the World Cup and scoring a double for his new club’s first team.

In January, Barcelona began to come to terms with a reality that was bound to hit them at the end of the season. Robert Lewandowski would be departing, leaving the team short of options at centre-forward.

Faced with economic restrictions or limited options, Barca can call on their trump card: drawing on the players from La Masia, its football academy. These players are trained to absorb the Barcelona style from a young age, to adjust to the pressure of the endless selection processes they undergo from childhood, and deliver immediate results for the first team.

The problem is that La Masia produces very few centre-forwards. The last one to make an impact in the first team was Marc Guiu, who signed for Chelsea in 2024.

Looking further afield has become more necessary. Sporting director Deco and the scouting team spotted Abdelkarim during the Under-17 World Cup in November 2025 and moved to sign him.

It is the sort of deal the board likes: cheap, with potential for the first team, but if it doesn’t work out, his status as a Barca academy prospect protects his sell-on fee. It was low-risk, with potentially a high reward.

His brother posted a photograph of the two of them as children on social media, captioning it: “From the club of our family to the club of our dreams.” Youseff was wearing the Barcelona kit, Hamza the kit of Egypt’s Al Ahly.

He signed for Barcelona in February, on an initial loan from Al Ahly, and went on to play for the youth team. His debut was delayed due to visa issues, but he finally made his debut in March, scoring in a 2-2 draw against Huesca’s under-19s. He ended up scoring six goals in 11 matches. He helped Barcelona’s ‘Juvenil A’ team win their under-19 league.

His signing had caused quite a stir, within the club and beyond.

On the final matchday of the youth league, he scored a hat-trick in half an hour against Montecarlo.

“During the week we tried to warn the players just how powerful he is in the air, that he’s a great first-time finisher and just how strong he is,” Montecarlo manager Nestor Aparicio later told FIFA’s website. “We really emphasised that we had to try to stop him receiving the ball inside the box. We warned them, we talked about it, we worked on it, and we watched him in lots of videos, but he was simply unstoppable. He was a force to be reckoned with. He was a hammer on every aerial ball. He finished everything off.”

In May, he was called up to the Egypt senior squad for the World Cup, and in June, Barcelona exercised the buyout clause for €1.5million (£1.3m; $1.7m).

Abdelkarim hadn’t expected to go to the World Cup, but Egypt are undergoing a generational change themselves, leaving them short of strikers.

“He has the qualities of a really good No 9,” said a source within the dressing room, who spoke to The Athletic under the condition of anonymity to protect their job.

He is relatively tall (182cm/6ft) and physically strong, showing the skill set and build of a typical centre-forward. Against Birmingham, his first goal came from the penalty spot. For his second, he pounced on the goalkeeper’s parry from a Roony Bardghji shot — a typical poacher’s effort.

Training has been crucial to his development, with the club working on his movement and link play outside the box. Progress is being made, but regardless, his penalty-area instincts are precisely why his profile is so interesting for Barcelona.

Producing midfielders and wingers is rarely a problem for the club’s youth sides. Academy players are taught from a young age to combine with team-mates, forcing centre-forwards to adapt. Many strikers ended up being converted into different roles.

Abdelkarim’s first few months at Barcelona have helped him integrate into the team’s style of play while remaining a clinical finisher in the box.

It has been a whirlwind few months. He signed to join Barcelona’s reserve team, but ended up playing for the youth side. The plan now is for him to become part of the first-team setup, having cut short his holidays to answer the call to the pre-season squad.

“He is never satisfied with what he has achieved. He is always looking for more,” a source, who also remains anonymous, close to the player tells The Athletic. “He has the world at his feet. This is just the beginning.”

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