Ipswich Town have completed the club-record signing of Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea.
The 20-year-old winger has signed a five-year deal to keep him at the club until 2029.
Hutchinson spent the season on loan with the then Championship club and helped guide them to promotion.
He now joins on a permanent basis after the clubs agreed a deal of £20million plus £2.5m in add-ons and a 20 per cent sell-on.
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Arsenal will receive a percentage of the fee due to a sell-on clause inserted into the deal when Hutchinson moved from the north London club to Chelsea in 2022.
“Omari is someone we all enjoyed working with last season and the staff, his teammates and supporters all saw how he grew and developed over the course of the year, which is testament to the hard work he put in,” Kieran McKenna said.
“The impact he had on the team throughout the season, especially in the latter part, was evidence of that and he, like so many of his teammates, played a significant part in that success for the club.
“We think Omari is a fantastic player and person to have at the club for the long-term future. He has a hunger to improve and show that he can compete and thrive in the Premier League.”
Hutchinson’s 11 goals and six assists in 50 appearances helped Kieran McKenna’s side secure promotion to the Premier League after a 22-year absence.
He leaves Chelsea having made just two senior appearances for the London side.
Stuttgart, Ajax and Feyenoord were also keen on Hutchinson, but the lure of playing under McKenna at Ipswich again gave the newly-promoted side an advantage.
He has made two senior appearances for the Jamaica national team appearing in two friendlies in March 2023.
Ipswich’s previous record transfer is the initial £4.5m paid for Sampdoria goalkeeper Matteo Sereni in the summer of 2001.
‘A one-year love affair blossoms into long-term signing’
When Ipswich last broke their transfer record, Omari Hutchinson hadn’t been born.The 20-year-old was eased into life at Ipswich and his first full season playing senior football, starting two of their first 12 Championship matches last season.
By the home stretch of the campaign he was a pivotal figure. The winger started and played the full 90 minutes in Ipswich’s final nine league games and scored five goals — including two crucial, almost identical long-range efforts in a nerve-shredding draw against Hull City as promotion edged ever closer.
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His flair and quick feet ensured games never felt gone even in the dying stages, knowing the Chelsea loanee was capable of creating something from nothing.
But it was McKenna’s sales pitch that detailed how Hutchinson could improve out of possession that persuaded him to move to Ipswich last summer, and his workrate and relentless pressing became so crucial to the way the side played.
“The coach (McKenna) watched me when I was with Chelsea Under-21s and saw that I could be good at pressing,” Hutchinson told The Athletic in November. “I am starting to enjoy it. I win the ball back a lot. To where I want to go, I have to do it. If it is good enough for Salah and Mane, it has to be good enough for me, too.”
So dream-like have these last two years been for Ipswich supporters that even what would usually have been a one-year love affair with a loan player has blossomed into a long-term signing.
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Omari Hutchinson: The Chelsea loanee with decisions to make over club and country
(John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)