Cardiff City should have one eye on Ipswich Town transfer in January | OneFootball

Cardiff City need to strengthen their striking options, and Ipswich Town's Ali Al-Hamadi could prove the perfect fit

Cardiff City desperately need to bolster their current striking options and the January transfer window will provide the Bluebirds to put it right - perhaps, then, they shouldn't look any further than Ipswich Town's Ali Al-Hamadi.

The Welsh side neglected to tangibly enforce the top-end of the pitch during a mixed summer transfer window, where they attracted a number of big names to the Cardiff City Stadium but fell short in addressing two critical and perennial issues - pace and goals.

There is a school of thought that Cardiff put their eggs into one basket with the loan signing of Wilfried Kanga, who is yet to open his account from 12 appearances after joining on loan from Hertha Berlin.

That's because Cardiff failed to sign more than one striker reared and readied for the current campaign, with highly-rated young Croat Roko Simic immediately heading out on loan to sister club KV Kortrijk upon arriving from Red Bull Salzburg.

Cardiff left it late in the window before completing the signing of Simic, whom many rightly expected to be involved in the first-team given the shortage of options available at the disposal of Erol Bulut at the time.

The manager has changed - as tends to be the case at Cardiff, and the manager might well be different come the conclusion of this month's international break, with interim boss Omer Riza currently facing an unclear future despite impressing in his stint in charge, but Cardiff remain short-staffed and dearly low in goalscoring pedigree across the striking department.

Regardless of who occupies the helm by the turn of the year, that's something which simply must be addressed in January.

Cardiff City's striker situation is far from ideal at this moment in time

As aforementioned, Kanga has fallen some way short of getting off the ground in the Welsh capital, where he is yet to not only score but make any form of an impression on supporters.

The general feeling among them is that he will likely be recalled by Hertha Berlin in January, which would only further amplify Cardiff's need for reinforcements.

Of course, the fact that Kanga arrived as Cardiff's sole summer striking signing to go straight in for this season was a rightful frustration.

Even though the Bluebirds couldn't have prevented losing Kion Etete and Isaak Davies to long-term injuries in pre-season - the latter is now not expected back in action until January - they still had an ample window of time following the double-setback to reinforce the striker stable.

The one Cardiff striker who has enjoyed uplifting fortunes thus far this term is Callum Robinson, who counts himself among a number of players to have seemingly been liberated and offered a new lease of life by the appointment of Riza.

Robinson's relationship with former boss Bulut always appeared turbulent from the outside looking in, but Riza has - when fit - entrusted him as his main man, a show of faith which has been handsomely rewarded.

The 38-cap Republic of Ireland international has scored five goals in the Championship from 12 appearances, despite only starting eight of those.

That's currently working out to 0.69 goals per 90 minutes played, a metric which he ranks fifth in throughout the division for players to have scored five times or more.

He's also the seventh-highest scorer in the Championship and the only player at Cardiff with more than one league strike under the stat-line, underlining the magnitude of his importance to this side.

It's not just the goals, either - Robinson's willingness to drop deep and engage in link-up play makes Cardiff's attack tick, and the difference has been sorely felt when he hasn't been leading the line from the first whistle.

Though a nailed-on starter when fit, Robinson has only surpassed the 70-minute mark on two occasions under Riza, who revealed that the forward is struggling with an ongoing Achilles problem.

Having been left out of the squad altogether, his absence was clear for all to see in Saturday afternoon's 3-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers, where Cardiff's attack was all-too-short of fluidity and end product as they spurned a number of chances from crosses into the box - the type of opportunities which are typically bread and butter for Robinson.

Cardiff City should look at Ipswich Town's Ali Al-Hamadi in January

From a physical standpoint, Cardiff simply cannot rely on Robinson week-in, week-out, and his responsibility must be shared out among the club's other striking options.

Kanga simply isn't looking up to it, though, while Etete is yet to be truly prolific for Cardiff and will require time and latitude to get back up to full speed following a lengthy lay-off along with Davies, who is poised to return to contention considerably later than his counterpart.

Signing a striker in January is beginning to appear a no-brainer, then, and they should really look no further than Ali Al-Hamadi.

A name previously linked with the Bluebirds, the Iraq international was reportedly of interest to Cardiff this time last year amid competition from the likes of Bristol City, Hull and Stoke.

Al-Hamadi, who was emerging as a real hot-shot at the time for AFC Wimbledon in League Two, later joined Ipswich Town in January and promptly helped the Tractor Boys to an improbable Premier League promotion by scoring four goals - despite starting just one of his 14 matches and playing 281 minutes during the second-half of the season.

As one would've expected, his minutes have deteriorated even further in the Premier League. At the time of writing, the 22-year-old has racked up only 32 minutes of league action across three matches, hardly helped by Liam Delap's ferocious form infront of goal.

The former Swansea City academy prospect has further competition from George Hirst, effectively placing him as third-choice in Kieran McKenna's pecking order in a one-striker system.

That position looks unlikely to shift anytime soon, and with opportunities continuing to arrive at a real premium, a loan exit from Portman Road is feeling increasingly probable.

How many Championship sides need a striker in January more badly than Cardiff? The assurances of regular game time to a striker who has played so little football as of late would surely be an instant advantage, as would the service which can be provided by the likes of Rubin Colwill, Alex Robertson and even Chris Willock.

Cardiff may be 22nd in the Championship, but they've been handicapped by a hellish start to the season under Bulut and are likely to be competing higher up the division come January - should everything go according to plan.

So, they're hardly going to be the least attractive proposition, if they're willing to re-lodge their reported interest, and a loan move may just benefit all parties.

Al-Hamadi needs to be playing regular football, Ipswich need him to be getting minutes elsewhere and Cardiff need a striker.

Al-Hamadi would benefit from bumping up his record at second-tier level, Ipswich will have a long-term strategy for the striker and he would offer an increased focal point to a Cardiff side which sorely lacks exactly that, barring one player repeatedly struck down by injury.

As far as sensible signings go, Al-Hamadi ticks all the boxes and it would be a surprise if Cardiff weren't trying to broker these sorts of deals in January.