Hamburger SV Pursue Zakaria El Ouahdi Transfer

Hamburger SV are closing in on Zakaria El Ouahdi after the Moroccan international agreed personal terms with the Bundesliga club, according to HLN. One hurdle remains: Genk.

The German side have already seen three offers rejected by the Belgian club, who are holding firm on their valuation. Negotiations are ongoing, and the deal now looks like a straight battle of wills between a selling club that knows its asset and a buying club that believes it has found the right piece for its project.

What tips the scales is the player himself. El Ouahdi is keen to make the move to Hamburg to push his career onto a bigger stage, and that desire is expected to drive the talks towards a compromise fee. Genk know he wants out; Hamburg know he wants in. That kind of alignment usually ends one way.

You can see why HSV are pushing so hard. At 24, El Ouahdi has grown into one of the standout attacking full-backs in Belgian football. His first season at Genk was solid rather than spectacular, but everything changed when Daniel Muñoz left for Crystal Palace. A vacancy opened on the flank. El Ouahdi grabbed it.

In the 2024/25 campaign he featured 40 times, chipping in with eight goals and two assists from defence. Last season he went up another gear: 12 goals in 45 games, plus five assists. Those are winger numbers from a full-back, and they have not gone unnoticed across Europe.

Hamburg, back in the Bundesliga and looking to cement their place in the top flight in their second season after promotion, see him as a potential cornerstone on the right. If the clubs finally shake hands on a fee, El Ouahdi will arrive not as a project, but as a player expected to make an immediate impact.