Hamza Abdelkarim’s rapid rise at Barcelona and with Egypt has been rather unexpected, with the player quickly progressing through the ranks.

Having joined the Catalan club in January on loan, he spent the half-season with the youth team before making the jump to first-team football during pre-season.

His quality and potential have been backed by Egypt coach Hossam Hassan after his debut goal for his nation .

As quoted by SPORT , Hassan was delighted after Hamza scored against South Sudan, becoming the third-youngest player in Egypt’s history to score for the senior national team.

The coach believes his decision to trust the 18-year-old has also helped accelerate his development at Barça .

“It wasn’t easy to choose Hamza for the Egyptian national team this year because he wasn’t playing for Barcelona’s first team,” Hassan said.

“Thank God, after joining the national team, people at his club saw him and he was promoted to the first team, where he was able to play.”

Hassan believes Egypt now have a responsibility to continue helping Hamza develop.