Barcelona's Striker Hunt: Hamza Abdelkarim Emerges as a Contender

Barcelona’s striker hunt has drifted into late-window tension. Deals for Joao Cancelo and Rodri are edging closer, yet the number 9 position remains unsolved, with big-name targets proving stubbornly out of reach.

Julian Alvarez sits at the top of the wishlist, but Atletico Madrid are holding their line and refusing to open the door for their prized forward. That stalemate has stalled Barcelona’s plans and forced the sporting department to scan the market again, with Viktor Gyokeres among the names floated as an alternative.

Inside the training ground, though, another idea is quietly taking shape.

Hamza Abdelkarim, the project striker

Mundo Deportivo report that Hamza Abdelkarim has made a striking first impression. From his very first session, the young Egyptian caught the eye of the coaching staff, not with tricks or showy touches, but with something far more valuable: penalty-box instinct.

Barcelona’s technical team put him through a tailored finishing workout, a sort of crash test for a pure No. 9. Hamza responded with a variety of finishes that made people stop and watch. He bent shots into far corners, snapped at chances at the near post, and showed the kind of predatory timing that cannot be coached easily.

One early header, in particular, turned heads. The power, the timing, the precision – it underlined the raw, explosive tools he brings. For a club scouring Europe for a reliable goalscorer, seeing that level of natural finishing in-house changes the conversation.

Rewiring his movement

The talent is there. The work now is about shaping it.

At the start of his trial, Hamza did what many modern forwards do when they arrive at Barcelona: he dropped deep. Watching the first team’s attackers slide into midfield to link play, he began to mirror that behaviour, drifting away from the area where he is most dangerous.

Pol Planas and his staff stepped in. They set a clear rule: leave the box only when the game truly demands it. No unnecessary forays into midfield, no getting lost between the lines. They want a striker who lives where defenders hate to look – between the posts, around the penalty spot, on the shoulder of the last man.

To drive the point home, the staff turned to video. Erling Haaland, Viktor Gyokeres, Samuel Eto’o – three very different forwards, one shared principle. All three thrive by staying close to goal, attacking space, and treating the penalty area as home turf. Those clips now form part of Hamza’s education, a visual manual for how Barcelona want him to move.

Hansi Flick is fully aligned with that philosophy. The idea is simple: keep Hamza close to the penalty area, sharpen his runs, and let his finishing do the rest. The less time he spends wandering into build-up zones, the more often he can be in position to finish moves.

For Barcelona, it is both a tactical bet and a contingency plan. If the club fail to land a marquee striker before the window shuts, the answer to their No. 9 problem might not arrive on a private jet. He might already be on the training pitch, learning how to live inside the box.