“I think fans like it when I wear my heart on my sleeve,” said Al-Hamadi on his Town debut.

January signature At Ipswich Town, Ali Al-Hamadi has had a fantastic start to his career. Stuart Watson conversed with the attacker.

To say that Ali Al-Hamadi’s past two years have been hectic would be an understatement.

He went on loan from League One team Wycombe Wanderers to play for National League team Bromley less than two years ago.

After joining League Two team AFC Wimbledon in January 2023, he scored 27 goals in 48 games.

While playing for Iraq in the Asian Cup in January 2024, he inked a £1 million-plus contract to join Premier League contender Ipswich Town.

“I was reflecting on how it had been a mental year or two for me during my eight-hour flight back (from Qatar),” he recalls.

It was an empowering moment for me to consider everything that had transpired and to look forward to the things I still wanted to accomplish.

There are a lot of games available right now, so just concentrate and keep your head down. When we play in the Premier League in the summer, I’m sure there will be more opportunity for introspection.”

There’s a mischievous smile on that last sentence.

It does, in fact. His powerful debut cameo at Preston North End soon allayed any worries that the young player could be overwhelmed by the move up of two divisions. Recall that this was after only a few training sessions with his new teammates.

There have been more energetic substitute performances versus Rotherham, Millwall, West Brom, and Swansea. He won and scored a penalty to secure a 4-0 victory at The Den, then played a key role in Omari Hutchinson’s dramatic stoppage-time winner against the Millers.

It’s evident that his ardent demeanor and enthusiastic approach have already won over supporters.

“Some of the boys have said they can’t believe I’ve had my own chant already!” laughed the Liverpool-raised youngster.

“It has been amazing and I probably couldn’t have wished for a better start to life here.

“I believe that having a relationship with the supporters is crucial in today’s game.I’ve always had it at the clubs where I have been because I wear my heart on my sleeve. I hope they understand how important it is to me to represent the team on the field every time I play.

Every time I’ve been involved, the excitement from the fans has been amazing to watch and feel because I never take anything for granted.

“I’m quite an emotional person and I think the supporters tend to like that because you’re showing a bit of passion and a connection with them on a human level, rather than just being a footballer who steps out on the pitch and does his job.”

Al-Hamadi’s CV certainly makes for interesting reading. He started out in Tranmere’s academy before turning down a professional contract there to sign a two-year scholarship with Swansea. He subsequently turned professional at the South Wales club, but left there at the end of his deal having failed to make a senior appearance.

After more than a year without a club, he joined Wycombe. He made just one league start for the Chairboys, went on loan to Bromley briefly, before dropping down to the fourth-tier with AFC Wimbledon.

“From the outside it can look like, ‘Oh he’s gone here or there and not played’, but it’s not as simple as that,” he said.

“I got offered a deal at Swansea when I was 18 or 19 and chose to leave because I thought that first-team opportunities were limited for me at the time.

“I had a few months where I bounced around different clubs and Swansea were asking for a compensation fee. Whatever club I went to said, ‘You’re doing well but we can’t really sign you because we haven’t got the money at the moment for a youth player.’

“It was a challenging time. I went to Derby when Wayne Rooney was there and was close to getting signed then they went into administration. I was at Forest, did well there for about a month, but they got promoted to the Premier League and said, ‘We need to spend funds on the first team.’ I was thinking, ‘When am I going to catch a break?’

“Eventually, I landed at Wycombe. That probably wasn’t my preferred option when I was leaving Swansea, but it was the only option I had at that point. I went in there as a young player under Gareth Ainsworth and learned a lot under him, especially the physical side of the game. I learnt off Sam Vokes, someone who has played at the top level.

“It got to a point where I was like, ‘I’m ready to play but there are players ahead of me who are older and more experienced.’ So I took another risk and went to play men’s football at Wimbledon.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

“At every point I’ve been at I’ve not been afraid to take a risk,” says Al-Hamadi. “I’ve always backed myself, both my ability and my mindset.

“Hopefully I can kind of be a role model now to younger players who do have similar journeys to mine.

“In academy systems nowadays, I don’t think they prepare you for men’s football. So I speak to a lot of the younger guys now and say, ‘You need to go and fail, you need to go and get rejected and have people tell you you’re not good enough.’ It gives you that drive and hunger.

“Some people might crumble, but you find out what you’re really made of at that point. That’s always been the way I have worked. I hope people can look at my story and take motivation from it.”