Town boss Kieran McKenna’s new Town contract is now expected to be confirmed on Wednesday due to hold-ups relating to the paperwork.
It’s understood the deal is agreed and it was anticipated that the 38-year-old’s new terms would be rubberstamped this afternoon and then announced soon afterwards. However, red tape understood to relate to legal aspects of the contract has delayed confirmation.
The Blues boss has been at Portman Road today with a photo of him playing football on the pitch this morning with his son having circulated on social media.
The Town manager’s future has been the subject of feverish speculation for the last 10 days with Brighton initially looking his likely destination before Chelsea and Manchester United also held talks with his representatives.
As reported on Wednesday, despite speaking to McKenna’s people, Leicester’s Enzo Maresca was always Chelsea’s top target and the Italian is now understood to be close to being appointed at Stamford Bridge.
The Red Devils, who beat Manchester City 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday, are set to hold an end-of-season review which mean their management situation - with Erik ten Hag currently still in charge - not likely to be settled for a little while yet.
Early last week, prior to Chelsea making their interest known, Brighton are understood to have thought the Blues boss was ready to join them.
As no progress was made in the following days and as the situation developed, we understand the Seagulls set a deadline of this Wednesday for the Northern Irishman to commit to a move to Sussex.
But, as was the case with Crystal Palace when they showed interest in February, a switch which it has now emerged came closer than appeared at the time, McKenna ultimately preferred to remain at Portman Road.
While the speculation regarding the other clubs continued apace, the Blues pulled out all the stops to try to keep hold of their manager with TWTD revealing on Friday that Ed Schwartz, the CEO of ORG, the US investment firm which manages funds on behalf of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), the club’s majority owner, flying over from the States to hold talks with CEO Mark Ashton and McKenna.
Those talks were evidently a success and once the new contract is confirmed, Town fans will be assured that they will have their talismanic boss still in charge when they make their return to the Premier League after 22 years away in August.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are reported to have taken the one-year option to extend former Blues loanee Omari Hutchinson’s contract to the summer of 2026.
The move was widely expected in order to either tie him to the West Londoners or secure as big a fee as possible should the 20-year-old be sold.
Town are very keen to bring the Jamaica international back to Portman Road either on loan or permanently for next season, while Bundesliga side Stuttgart are also interested but are unlikely to be the only other suitor with a number of Europe’s bigger clubs having taken notice of Hutchinson’s highly successful spell with the Blues.
Meanwhile, skipper Sam Morsy and central defender Elkan Baggott have been left out of the Egypt and Indonesia squads respectively for their June internationals.