four matches he again suffered an injury which prevented him playing for nine months. El Hamdaoui only played seven competitive matches for the Tilburg side, scoring three goals. In his second season at the Willem II, he left the club after two league matches to join AZ. AZ On 31 August 2007, El Hamdaoui signed with AZ Alkmaar until 2011 as a replacement for Danny Koevermans who left for PSV Eindhoven. On 16 September 2007, he scored on his debut for AZ in a league match against Sparta Rotterdam. By the end of his first season at AZ, he had scored 7 goals in 23 league matches. The 2008–09 season proved to be an excellent one for El Hamdaoui and AZ. He scored in the first game of the season against NAC Breda, although AZ lost 2–1. By the winter break, he had scored 16 goals in 17 league matches, including a hattrick against his old club Willem II. At the winter break, AZ was leading the league table, and El Hamdaoui was leading the goal-scoring charts. By the end of the season, AZ had won the second championship in their history, and El Hamdaoui was the top scorer in the Eredivisie, with 23 goals in 31 matches, one more than Ajax's Luis Suárez. He was also named the Dutch Footballer of the Year. At the beginning of the 2009–10 season, there were a lot of changes at AZ. Manager Louis van Gaal had departed the club to go to FC Bayern Munich, and was replaced by Ronald Koeman. Defending champions AZ had a bad start to the season, although El Hamdaoui still managed to score 9 goals in 11 matches by the winter break. AZ found themselves in eighth place with 28 points in 20 matches, 24 points behind leaders PSV. Just before the winter break, Koeman was fired and veteran manager Dick Advocaat was brought in to take over. Russia manager Advocaat stated that he expected at least 15 or 16 goals from the player, El Hamdaoui stated "Advocaat knows what he's talking about, I think. It gives me confidence, I know what I can do." Ajax On 30 July 2010, El Hamdaoui signed a four-year deal with Ajax, rejoining with his former Spurs manager Martin Jol. El Hamdaoui marked his league début for Ajax with two goals against Groningen on 8 August 2010. He scored a goal