Cardiff City urged to avoid Ipswich Town, Ali Al-Hamadi transfer agreement - it "would not make sense" | OneFootball

FLW's Cardiff City pundit gives his verdict on the potential signing of Ali Al-Hamadi.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Cardiff City have been linked with the potential signing of Ipswich Town forward Ali Al-Hamadi, and are said to be weighing up a move for the Iraqi international.

Following relegation from the Championship last season, where the Bluebirds finished dead-last, they have so far managed to retain the services of their key attacking players, including Yousef Salech, Rubin Colwill and Callum Robinson.

Cardiff have begun the League One campaign well, sitting in second place in the table behind only Stevenage, having defeated both Peterborough United and Rotherham United, sandwiched with a goalless draw away to Port Vale.

Salech and Colwill have started all three games, whilst Robinson can only find room for a place coming off of the bench.

Despite this, TEAMtalk have linked the Bluebirds have been linked with Ipswich striker Ali-Al Hamadi, as the 23-year-old doesn't seem to be a key part of Kieran McKenna's plans at Portman Road this season.

Luton Town, who were relegated alongside Cardiff last season, have been linked with Al-Hamadi as well, though no bids have been launched for the striker yet.

Al-Hamadi spent the second half of last season on-loan in the Championship with Stoke City.

Although he would only score twice in 15 appearances, the goals he did score came away at Hull City and at home to Blackburn Rovers, which both culminated in wins, which proved to be crucial for the Potters, who only secured survival on the final day.

Cardiff City may struggle to find room to facilitate Ali Al-Hamadi

Football League World's Cardiff City pundit, Matt Hall, would struggle to see a world where Cardiff can find room for Al-Hamadi in their current squad as long as there are no outgoings.

"[I'm] not particularly interested in Al-Hamadi, to be honest with you," Matt told FLW.

"Obviously, my counterpoint to that is if we lose, say Callum Robinson, then you'd open up to it.

"But, as it stands, we've got Yousef Salech, Callum Robinson and Isaak Davies, who is already a quick, mobile striker, and he is, at the moment, third choice and having to play out on the wing, so it would not make sense for us to use up a loan sport for him.

"We've only got seven substitutes on the bench this season, so it's not like we can have him there as a backup option if we don't want to bring Robinson on.

"I think it's one of those deals that maybe will have been good for us on a permanent if we lost Callum Robinson, or a loan move involved in a Callum Robinson deal, but I think at this stage now it's the sort of position that we really don't need to unsettle.

"We've done our work there, we've kept a hold of who we've got, and I don't think we need to touch that area at all."

Signing Ali Al-Hamadi would clog up an already bloated attack for Cardiff City

With the aforementioned Salech, Davies, Robinson and Colwill in the forward areas, added to the likes of Ollie Tanner and Cian Ashford, it's hard to see where Al-Hamadi would fit into Brian Barry-Murphy's team.

You would imagine that Cardiff would only sanction a move for the Iraqi if Salech were to depart the Welsh capital. However, with Salech under contract until 2029, and with it getting later and later into the window, it's difficult to see the Dane leaving now.

Al-Hamadi missed the crucial penalty for Ipswich away at his former club Bromley in the League Cup last Tuesday, with Tractor Boys teammate Conor Chaplin claiming Al-Hamadi was "gutted" following his miss.

George Hirst appears to be McKenna's first choice striker heading into this season, and with the arrival of Chuba Akpom on-loan from Ajax, Al-Hamadi seems to have dropped further down the pecking order in Suffolk.

Whether it is for Cardiff