Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi admits to playing through ‘a lot of pain’ to achieve Premier League promotion after undergoing successful surgery

Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi has revealed he played ‘through a lot of pain’ to help Kieran McKenna’s side achieve automatic promotion to the Premier League but has said it was ‘worth every single minute of it’.

The 22-year-old made the comments on social media after confirming he has undergone a successful adductor (thigh) operation which the January signing from AFC Wimbledon had been known to be managing in the back-end of the season.

It saw the Iraq international ask not to be included in his country’s squad for their fixtures in March but he was regularly used off the bench for his club side (13 times) and started the 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough on April 13 with McKenna’s forward-line options having been depleted.

Al-Hamadi managed to end the campaign, having not been included in the squad for the last two matches, with three goals and one assist in 13 Sky Bet Championship appearances (1 start).

Posting on his X (formerly Twitter) account, the player who grew up in Liverpool after being born in Iraq, wrote: “These last few months of the season have been really gruelling for me mentally and physically.

“(I’ve) Been playing through a lot of pain to help out my team-mates, fans and staff achieve our goal. (It was) Worth every single minute of it in the end.

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), the operation was successful.

“Thanks to Dr Ernest Schilders and his team for doing an amazing job.

“Road to recovery has already begun. Back to work.”

It comes after defender Harry Clarke has also confirmed he has undergone successful surgery on both his Achilles tendons after undergoing ‘countless injections’ to manage it during the season.

Like Al-Hamadi, defender Janoi Donacien also underwent adductor surgery, having his operation towards the end of the season.