Four minutes against Rayo Vallecano, eight against Getafe. That is the full extent of Hamza Abdelkarim’s playing time at Barcelona this season, spread across ten matchday squads with no sign of a proper first-team opening.

The teenager is caught behind an attack that leaves little room. Raphinha starts, Gabriel Jesus deputises, and Dani Olmo has recently been tried as a false nine. Flick is reportedly happy with Abdelkarim in training, but the gap between training and a starting shirt is the whole story here.

Behind the scenes, the club is wrestling with what to do. One option on the table is a temporary step down to Barça Atlètic, where Juliano Belletti’s reserves could offer a steady supply of minutes while Abdelkarim learns the rhythms of the senior setup. A loan or formal demotion would ease a problem that keeps growing in silence: a highly rated young centre-forward sitting unused while his competitive football stays rationed by the minute.

The player’s own answer

Abdelkarim’s position, according to Catalan reporting, is unambiguous. When he signed a contract until 30 June 2030 in the summer, he told the club he would not be embarrassed to drop down to the B-team if it meant regular football. His priority, he stressed, was simply to play, whether that was for Barcelona, Barça Atlètic or Egypt.

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The question is no longer whether he needs more minutes. Flick’s staff reportedly accept he does. It is whether the first-team dressing room gives him those minutes or Belletti’s side does.

An Egypt row running in parallel

The debate is louder because it is not confined to Catalonia. On 4 October, Egypt lost 0-1 to South Africa in a friendly and Abdelkarim came on in the 69th minute. Afterwards, video showed national-team coach Hossam Hassan reprimanding the youngster on the pitch, and the two did not shake hands.

Former Egypt international Bashir El Tabei was blunt about Hassan’s call to leave him out.

“The team has no personality or charisma, except for Muhannad Lashin, and it would have been better to include Hamza Abdulkarim in the starting line-up and give him a greater chance,” he told Egyptian media.

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Five days earlier, on 29 September, Abdelkarim had scored his first senior Egypt goal in a 5-0 win over South Sudan in AFCON qualifying. By the time of the South Africa match, the calls for him to start were already loud.

Flick, meanwhile, has started the season with ten wins in ten matches in all competitions. Barcelona travel to Real Betis on Saturday, visit Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on 20 October, and host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on 25 October.

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