La Liga giants Barcelona have late this week tied an up-and-coming member of the club’s attacking ranks down for the long term. This comes amid confirmation of Hamza Abdelkarim putting pen to paper on a new contract.
Hamza for his part first linked up with Barcelona on loan from Al Ahly back in January. From here, the 18-year-old did enough to convince the Blaugrana to make his transfer a permanent one during the summer.
Aware of his goalscoring talents, Hansi Flick, in turn, afforded Hamza a chance to impress as part of his first-team setup during pre-season in Catalunya’s capital.
And the 18-year-old managed precisely that, finding the net in several friendly fixtures, giving rise to a La Liga debut in Barca’s drubbing of Rayo Vallecano late last month.
It therefore came as little surprise when word was recently forthcoming that the Camp Nou brass had already kicked into gear efforts to lock down their young goalscorer for the foreseeable future.
And as alluded to above, on Friday, these endeavours have officially borne fruit. As per a statement across Barca’s social media platforms:
‘FC Barcelona and player Hamza Abdelkarim have reached an agreement for the renewal of the Egyptian footballer’s contract until 30 June 2030.’
Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, meanwhile, has since confirmed perhaps the most significant aspect of the contract, in the form of Hamza’s new release clause:
‘The former release clause was worth €15m; the new one will be worth €150m.’
Conor Laird – GSFN
