Wilshere still hopes to sign Tractor Boys forward Al-Hamadi permanently despite latest setback
Striker is ruled out for a few months
Luton boss Jack Wilshere has insisted that striker Ali Al-Hamadi remains very much part of his plans despite the forward being ruled out for another few months after suffering a quad injury recently.
The 23-year-old had signed on loan from Championship outfit Ipswich Town until the end of the campaign back on transfer deadline day in September, his arrival heralded as something of a marquee signing by Hatters supporters, only to then learn he had an existing calf issue that would keep him out around eight weeks, as he eventually featured in the 4-3 FA Cup first round win over National League side Forest Green Rovers.
One more cameo followed in the 3-0 success at then leaders Stockport County, before he went away with Iraq, scoring in the 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw against UAE, only to then go off at half time with what was revealed to have been another injury, as Al-Hamadi soon announced on his social media that he won’t be able to feature again until early 2026.
Asked if he might be sent back to his parent club now, Wilshere denied that would be the case, intimating that he would like to make the move for the former AFC Wimbledon attacker permanent next summer if possible as well, Luton having an obligation to purchase, as he said: “No, no, he stays, he stays here and we’ll look after him. We’ll make sure that he gets the right support as it’s not easy for him as well, but that’s who we want to be.
“We want to be a club who supports everyone, even if he’s a loan player. Hopefully if we can get promoted he can stay with us and we have to think like that, we have to think like he’s our player. We have to care for him in that way, which we will, we will do. I know he’s probably had a couple of weeks where he’s been a little bit down, finding out how long he’s going to be out, working out what’s next for him, but I think he’s now in a place where he understands it, he can really focus on the rehab and we’ll help him with that.
“He was brought here injured, so we knew it was going to take some time. Of course it’s frustrating for everyone, for me, for the club, but more importantly for him, and this is a club that is about family, everyone knows that. A big reason why I wanted to come here and probably the biggest thing I’ve felt since being here is that family feel, that family connection and he’s part of it. We have to support him, because it’s tough for him. It’s frustrating, but he’s part of us and we’ll do everything we can.”
With Al-Hamadi one of two high profile strikers that are absent for the Hatters, Elijah Adebayo being the other, then with the Iraq international scheduled for two months out, when he is back, Luton could still have 16 games, around a third of the season, to go. In Wilshere’s eyes, it means he could still have a big role to play in the Hatters’ promotion bid, saying: “At the moment it feels like it’s tough and he hasn’t played that much, but also in February when he’s back there’s still time in the season and an important time in the season when he can help us.
“He can give us something different and I say the same about Elijah. Probably by the time those guys start to come back we probably will need something a little bit different. We might be a little bit predictable, we might need to change how we play as a team, and they can certainly give us that.”
One of the main causes of frustration for the Hatters was that the injury was picked up while Al-Hamadi was away on international duty, but as Wilshere stated, it could have been a beneficial time away from Luton for both the player and the club, adding: “We sat down, me and the coaches and the medical staff and we looked at it, we thought about it and the biggest thing was Ali wanted to go.
"So we sat down and tried to work out the best way, the safest way, how many minutes he can play and it was just one of those things. It was a little bit of freak injury where he kind of flicked his leg out and just felt something. It’s frustrating, but also we could have been sat in the position where he’s coming back with two extra games and a little bit more ready to go, so hindsight is amazing, but we’ll wait for him.”