Ipswich must regret not signing £16m PL star who’s now a bigger talent than Hutchinson – opinion 

They might only have four points to their name, but Ipswich Town have made a brilliant start to life in the Premier League this season.

Kieran McKenna’s side put in a good account of themselves against Liverpool and Manchester City before picking up a point against Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton and Aston Villa.

It might be too early to say, but based on their first six games and some of the incredibly talented players in their squad, such as Omari Hutchinson, it looks like the Tractor Boys have a great chance of staying up this year.

That said, they might’ve been in an even better position had the club managed to sign another youngster McKenna wanted, who could be even more talented than Hutchinson.

Hutchinson’s Ipswich career

Ipswich initially signed Hutchinson on a season-long loan from Chelsea last summer before going a step further and paying a club record fee of £20m to make his stay permanent this year.

Now, that might sound like a lot of money for a 20-year-old player with minimal top-flight experience, but as Ipswich fans will attest, he was immense last season.

For example, in his 50 appearances, the Redhill-born winger scored 11 goals and provided six assists, meaning that he maintained an average of a goal involvement every 2.94 games and played a crucial part in the club’s second promotion in as many years.

Overall, the Men’s Young Player of the Year winner has been an exceptional star for Ipswich and should remain so for some time to come, but had the club been able to secure the services of a player McKenna wanted in the past, he wouldn’t be the most exciting attacker at the club.

McKenna’s interest in Morgan Rogers

Yes, the exciting youngster in question is 22-year-old Morgan Rogers, who has caught the attention of the wider Premier League so far this season.

However, according to McKenna, the Tractor Boys were “certainly there or thereabouts to bringing him here a couple of times” before he moved to Middlesbrough for a fee of around £1m in July last year.

Now, like Hutchinson, the former Manchester City prospect can play in either midfield or out wide, but unlike him, he tends to play out on the left, meaning the pair could have created a deadly partnership at Portman Road had the club been able to sign him before his move to the Riverside Stadium.

With that said, how do the pair compare to one another? Well, from a pure output perspective, it is the “impressive” Villa ace, as dubbed by journalist Dan Billingham, who comes out on top.

Indeed, in his 49 appearances last season – including 11 in the Premier League – he scored ten goals and provided ten assists, equating to a goal involvement on average every 2.45 games.

Moreover, this season, he has already scored one goal and provided two assists in seven appearances, compared to the 20-year-old, who has just one assist to his name in as many games.

Ultimately, Ipswich have an incredibly talented and exciting young attacker on their hands in Hutchinson and someone who could help them stay up this season.

However, had the club pushed for Rogers’ signature last year – a man now worth up to £16m – they could have had an even more gifted attacker either off the left or in attacking midfield as well.