“Listen” – Mark Ashton makes Omari Hutchinson claim as Ipswich Town eye Chelsea star

The loanee winger was one of the keys to Ipswich’s end-of-season form

Ipswich Town chief executive Mark Ashton has said that he would love to bring loan star Omari Hutchinson back to the club, but that any negotiations with Chelsea will take time.

If Ipswich’s promotion wasn’t already sealed in most people’s minds before the young winger found the back of the net against Huddersfield Town, on the final day of the 2023/24 season, then Hutchinson’s second-half strike would have made sure of it.

Towards the back end of the season, the Chelsea loanee, who joined them from Arsenal’s academy, scored a fair few important goals.

The 20-year-old netted a brace against Hull City in Town’s third-last game of the season, helping them clinch a vital point in a 3-3 draw against the play-off chasing side.

He was also the star of the show against Sheffield Wednesday in the last game before the final international break of the season. He scored twice and helped one of his teammates to do so, ending the game with a 9.8/10 Sofascore match rating.

The Tractor Boys’ manager Kieran McKenna was asked, at the club’s end of season awards, what he would want Ashton to buy him for his recently gone 38th birthday. He replied: “Omari.”

The Ipswich chief executive himself has given his view on a potential return move for the 20-year-old.

Mark Ashton’s Omari Hutchinson transfer claim

“Listen, you never know. It’s really early at the moment,” said Ashton, when asked if he could make McKenna’s Hutchinson transfer wishes come true, via EADT.

He continued: “What Kieran’s done with Omari from day one, how he’s developed him, is incredible. He’s gone from a bit-part player, to a mainstay in the team, to someone who has really impacted the team.

“We’d love to have him here for sure, but that would mean discussions with Chelsea, with his agent, with him, with his family etc. All of that will take a little bit of time.”

The winger has said that he would be open to coming back to the club, but Town will face competition if he is made available. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has said that other teams in England, as well as ones in Germany and the Netherlands, are interested in taking the Jamaican on loan.

Ashton added: “You get promoted and everyone talks emotionally – ‘I want to be here!’ – but you’ve got to let the dust settle and then calmly speak to the right people. It’s one we’ll step through and see where we go.

“But he’s been an exceptional talent for us, he’s come to the forefront incredibly well in recent weeks. We’ll sit down with Kieran and we’ll have a good look at what we’re going to do.”

Ipswich’s main summer transfer window goal should be Premier League quality

The argument that will be made about Town’s potential shortcomings for next season was probably made before the start of last season too. Will they have enough quality to cope in their new division?

That question was emphatically answered last time round, but things may be a bit different now that they are swimming in the biggest pond of all.

Ipswich weren’t massively busy in the last summer window, with the main bulk of the signings being loans like Hutchinson and Brandon Williams, plus the permanent signings of George Hirst and Axel Tuanzebe, but the feeling now is that they will need to be a bit more active.

They have been linked with Premier League experienced players like Eddie Nketiah from Arsenal, and that is the sort of path that they need to go down.

Bringing back the likes of Hutchinson is a no-brainer, if they can get it done; one of the best ways to try and secure safety in the Premier League is to do it with a squad that is as close to the one that got you promoted as possible. That continuity really does help, as was shown by Burnley’s shortcomings this season after a mammoth Championship title win.

However, they do need to make sure that they have players in that dressing room who know the demands of playing in the top flight, and how to handle it, because most of the current Town squad don’t.