The 5pm Omari Hutchinson relegation release clause expired yesterday evening with Brentford having offered the required £35 million fee but not having met the required payment terms.

TWTD understands the Bees, who had an initial bid turned down on Monday, made a number of offers throughout the course of yesterday eventually hitting the £35 million mark.

However, although they met the required fee, their offer would have seen the cash paid over a lengthy period, a number of years, and therefore failed to meet the required terms of the clause, and the Blues once again rebuffed the bid, the largest ever turned down by the club. No other side showed interest.

The relegation release clause has now expired but, while Town have no intention of selling Hutchinson this summer, it seems likely that the Bees will come back in with a further offer, which would have to be in excess of £35 million and on the basis of cash up front to the greater degree rather than over a period of years, which could well be acceptable to the club.

Brentford are understood to view Hutchinson as among a handful of potential replacements for Bryan Mbeumo, who is a target of Manchester United, while Tottenham and Newcastle have also been linked.

Hutchinson, who has four years remaining on his Blues contract, is currently away on holiday having been given additional time off following the England U21s’ successful European Championship campaign.

Town paid Chelsea an initial £20 million for Hutchinson last summer with the £2.5 million top-up clauses having been triggered over the last year. The West Londoners are understood to be due a percentage of the fee the Blues would receive.

Photo: Matchday Images

churchmans added 10:10 - Jul 16 ArnieM We need to move away from morsy,axel(injured a lot)burgess,they done brilliant for us! There getting on a bit now and we know what there like in the prem! Time for new strong,hungry players tbst can do the business in tbis leauge and the next! Exciting times ahead
0

BlueandTruesince82 added 10:10 - Jul 16 Given the amount Brentford have raised in Player sales they can absolutely stump up tbe cash up front if they want him. Poor way to do business from them. Should have put a proper bid in.
2

churchmans added 10:12 - Jul 16 Yeah defo! Im confident the club our doing the right thing! Which they have done since the takeover
1

MickMillsTash added 10:12 - Jul 16 LondonBen Clarke, Philogene, Szmodics, Ogbene, Broadhead, Chaplin and Burns. Except Clarke ALL were INJURED for too much of last season, 2 were big injuries - Add to that list Hurst , 7 games in a month etc and we really need to be managing players time carefully
1

londonben added 10:14 - Jul 16 I hope you’re just trolling ArnieM…but in case you’re not: - we’d have never convinced Delap to sign without a release clause, and 10m profit after one season is excellent business - Axel and Burgess wanted to go and Axel was at least as flaky as Philogene fitness wise - Morsy has been offered life changing money for his family at 34, would you stand in his way? - we’ve signed a great replacement for Morsy and are in for two more great options, reportedly - Omari isn’t “walking away” we’re being offered lots of money and turning it down, and there’s been no indication whatsoever that he’s pushing for a move - Philogene got 12 goals and 6 assists in his last season in the championship including a Puskas award nomination. He came to us mid-season having never played prem before and after being on the bench for half a season - what was he supposed to do? Only three years ago we were gearing up for another season in league one, now you’re complaining that we might only get 40m for a player and saying he should show loyalty and stay. The sense of entitlement is mind blowing…

24

blueoutlook added 10:22 - Jul 16 I’m not overly impressed with our summer so far. All these out goings and not much in the way of incomings where we need them. A has been keeper, a bit part central defender and a Dutch guy who we really know nothing about apart from a few show reels,which they all do nowadays to make themselves look good. Where is this striker we have badly needed for three windows got to ? I hope we aren’t hanging our hat on that kid from Chelsea like we spent all last summer doing with Broja. We need more in midfield, maybe a rb and probably 2=strikers in actual fact. A load of kids on loan from the PL won’t cut it either at the end of the window.

0

bluesissy added 10:36 - Jul 16 Im confused...is he staying or going...or are town holding out for a better deal and then he's going
0

Tommyc added 10:43 - Jul 16 Good to see us getting a bit tougher with our negotiations - letting Morsy go with a year left on his contract and knowing the contribution he could make in the Championship in that year is detrimental to our chances of promotion. With Hirst, Chaplin, Szmodics, Clarke, Philogene, Broadhead, Burns, Ogbene & Hutchinson making it 9 players for 4 forward places, would still expect one of these to go (along with 1 x GK) and replaced with another CM plus a standard CF

2

Linkboy13 added 11:03 - Jul 16 It's very difficult to make judgement not knowing the players feelings. If he really wants to go there's no point in keeping an unhappy player. 35 million is a lot of money but over a number of years probably evaluates to much less than that. I can see him going to Brentford but with a release clause in case they get relegated. I think he is waiting for a better offer from elsewhere. In terms of developing his career a season or two in German football would benefit him as it has many English players over the years it's not quite as strong as the Premier league ask Harry Kane.

2

blues1 added 11:13 - Jul 16 ArnieM . How is it a bad summer? Was always going to be players leaving. It's what happens after relegation. Burgess already replaced, even tho im not sure we really needed to. Morsys replacement already signed, with bids in elsewhere for other midfielders. So really only the striker to be sorted. Which im sure it will be. It is the most difficult position to recruit for as well. Axel gone, but we have up to 6 other players who can play thst position. Needfo remember, we don't need that many signings this summer. Still, even if morsy and hutchinson go,

2

blues1 added 11:14 - Jul 16 Cotd. We only need another 2 or 3
0

ITFC_95 added 11:15 - Jul 16 Hutchinson and his “team” will have negotiated and accepted the £35m release clause (incl. with most of the fee paid upfront) as a safety net if we were to get relegated. They clearly saw this as a reasonable fee for any club to have to pay if Hutchinson decided he did not want to play in the championship. Therefore, whether he wants to leave or not, we would seem to be in a pretty strong position to tell him he’s not going anywhere until this figure is at least met, now that the release clause has expired.

1

Bluemoss added 11:18 - Jul 16 How the club has been transformed the last few years. We would have been bullied a while ago and he would have went for £3.50.
4

Bluroo added 11:25 - Jul 16 So turns out Omari is worth £35m, at least, puts that argument to bed. Can't understand those saying we should take it. Money in the bank doesn't create and score goals and we're never gonna replace Omari with the same or better at this stage. Were better off keeping the best players we have to give us the best chance of promotion and a better crack at the Prem next time. Only sell players who want to leave/can't prevent leaving or are surplus to requirements or we can upgrade. Otherwise were weaker, no reason to weaken ourselves unless we are forced to.

6

Michael101 added 11:30 - Jul 16 At the end of the day it will all come down to what mr.20% thinks about it all.
-1

ITFCson added 11:35 - Jul 16 I don't understand how as per the article a new offer would 'have' to be in excess of £35M. I think we would consider £35M if the payment terms suited.
0

darkhorse28 added 11:35 - Jul 16 He’s gone if Mbeumo leaves. And they won’t need to up their bid if we’re honest. We accepted their offer, just not the terms. More cash in the initial payment and he’s gone. Suspect they couldn’t do the deal financially, without clarity on their sales, which is why (if we need to sell) extending the deadline might have been in our best interests. I can’t see lots of clubs wanting to pay much more than that.., great prospect, but might need a year or two at that level to shine. Obviously as much as I love watching him play (possibly the most naturally gifted player in decades), he will likely want to leave, we DO need to sell him, not least because Brett highlighted exactly that point. And he actually sees the P&L. Nobody on here does. The danger now is it drags out, stops us doing other business, and happens very late in the window when our own options are significantly reduced.

1

ArnieM added 11:36 - Jul 16 Londonben: I'm honestly not trolling, or even intending too. I'm just hating how football has gone now, tbh. I'm desperately hoping we keep Omari, ( hes actually my favourite players if I'm honest), and thought of him leaving where we END UP getting a few bob for him and then have to try and replace him doesnt fill me with a feeling of successful negotiations given Chelsea will take a hefty payout, just as Man City did when its not even their player anymore. Nothing is simple anymore is it.

2

BlueandTruesince82 added 11:39 - Jul 16 But we didn't accept the offer. Difference is clear, had they met the terms of the clause we would have been contractually obliged to accept. Now we are not. Maybe a straight up 35 mil cash up top or lost of it anyway gets it done. Its a sizeable chunk of change maybe its not but to say we accepted tbe offer isnt true we had to. Why people insist on trying to muddy the waters on this for kicks is beyond me when we can all see through it.

2

Gforce added 11:40 - Jul 16 Ashton said a month or so ago ,we would definitely lose a couple, whether that's including Delap or on top of we are going to lose at least one,if it's not Omari, then who else is on his way out ?
0

bobble added 11:45 - Jul 16 We should take the 35 billion and invest it in trumpcoin...
1

Bluewhiteboy added 11:48 - Jul 16 Be interesting to see what happens when he returns from his holidays. No matter how small we think Brentford are they are playing premier league football in his home city on likely a lot more money than we are paying him. Fair play if he stays with us, but I wouldn't blame him for wanting to play his game at the top.
2

Paulc added 11:57 - Jul 16 ArnieM- You're comments make no sense. What is loyalty in relation to players? The only loyalty you can expect from players is that they do their best whilst under contract. Remember, loan deals aside, most players we buy at any time are under contract elsewhere, so you accept them being disloyal to the club we buy them from but expect loyalty to Ipswich? This is the real world.

3

blueboy1981 added 11:58 - Jul 16 It seems a remotely questionable or negative comment on here is not allowed - whatever happened to Reality first and foremost, and consensual personal opinion being permissible ?
-1

d77sgw added 12:15 - Jul 16 It literally is allowed. 'Consensual personal opinion' (whatever that means) is permissible. No-one is stopping it. But 'free-speech' works both ways - people are perfectly allowed to disagree with your opinion and down-vote you too (as long as comments are kept on topic and not made personal). Personally (and I emphasise that) I think tempered optimism probably helps your mental health more than doom-mongering!

5

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls