Ipswich Town must be fearing £3m payday is slipping away - Luton Town deal may not happen | OneFootball

Ipswich Town would have been hoping to land a big windfall from Luton Town for Ali Al-Hamadi, but the deal now looks under threat.

Ipswich Town will be currently focusing on getting their Championship promotion push back on track, but they may have one eye on events at Luton Town ahead of a possible summer windfall.

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last season, Ipswich received big money for a number of their stars in the summer, including the likes of Omari Hutchinson, Nathan Broadhead and Liam Delap.

That provided the Tractor Boys with funds to strengthen their squad ahead of their Championship return, with Azor Matusiwa, Marcelino Nunez, Kasey McAteer and Sindre Walle Egeli among their more expensive signings as manager Kieran McKenna was given significant backing in the transfer market.

However, among the high-profile exits at Portman Road this summer, the departure of Ali Al-Hamadi on loan to League One side Luton Town did not quite generate the same level of headlines, but Ipswich could potentially make a handsome profit on the striker, depending on how he performs at Kenilworth Road.

Ipswich Town will be hoping to land Ali Al-Hamadi profit after Luton Town switch

After hitting a stunning 17 goals for League Two side AFC Wimbledon in the first half of the 2023-24 season, Al-Hamadi made the move to Ipswich in January 2024 for a fee of just over £1 million, which looked like something of a bargain for the Suffolk outfit.

With the Tractor Boys flying high in the Championship at the time, Al-Hamadi found it difficult to break into the team, but he did still manage to score four goals in 14 appearances in the second half of the season to help McKenna's men achieve promotion to the Premier League.

Given Al-Hamadi's lack of game time in the second tier, it was little surprise that his minutes remained limited in the top flight, particularly after Delap's arrival pushed him further down the pecking order, and he was loaned out to Stoke City in January.

It is fair to say Al-Hamadi had an underwhelming spell in the Potteries as he scored just two goals in 15 appearances, and while he did feature in the opening two games of this season for Ipswich, it quickly became clear that he was not part of McKenna's plans.

League One promotion hopefuls Luton and Cardiff City were said to be battling it out for Al-Hamadi's signature in the summer, and it was the former who won the race for the 23-year-old, with the Hatters agreeing an initial season-long loan deal that will become permanent for a fee of £3 million next summer if certain conditions are met.

Ipswich Town will be sweating amid concerning Ali Al-Hamadi, Luton Town situation

After a summer of impressive transfer business, Luton were widely tipped to win the League One title this season, and the signing of Al-Hamadi was seen as the icing on top of the cake for the Bedfordshire outfit.

However, it has not worked out that way so far, and after an inconsistent start to the season, the Hatters parted company with manager Matt Bloomfield earlier this month and turned to former Arsenal and Norwich City coach Jack Wilshere in an attempt to reignite their promotion push.

While Luton have not reached anywhere near their expected levels as a team this season, Al-Hamadi's struggles will be particularly frustrating for supporters, with the striker failing to make a single matchday squad since his arrival due to a calf injury.

Al-Hamadi was injured when the Hatters completed a deal for him, with Bloomfield even suggesting that his fitness issues helped the club to fight off competition from elsewhere to land his signature, and while Wilshere admitted he is "impatient" to get the striker on the pitch, he insisted he would not rush his return.

From a Luton point of view, it is understandable that they are taking a cautious approach with Al-Hamadi to avoid any setbacks, but for Ipswich, they may be getting a little concerned by his lack of game time, particularly as certain conditions will need to be met for them to receive the agreed £3 million windfall.

It is unclear whether the conditions are related to a specific number of appearances or goals or the Hatters winning promotion this season, but as things stand, there are big question marks over whether the necessary criteria will be achieved.

The positive news for the Tractor Boys is that, once Al-Hamadi returns to fitness, he will likely go straight into the Luton team, especially given the poor form of the club's other strikers, Jerry Yates, Nahki Wells and Lasse Nordas, so far this season, but whether he will have enough time to satisfy the conditions for a permanent deal to be activated remains to be seen.

Given their vast financial resources, £3 million may seem like pocket change to a club like Ipswich, but after their big spending in the summer, the income would be useful in helping them balance the books, so they will certainly be hoping that Al-Hamadi can hit the ground running once he finally gets to pull on a Hatters shirt.