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

ArnieM added 12:15 - Jul 16 Apologies to you all. I'm sorry I am bei g quite emotional about losing our players thus windiw for sone reason. But I'd hope you'd allow me some slack for being an ardent, if older (67yrs) female Town fan. Guess I'm used to the old ways.... so Apologies once again.
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d77sgw added 12:16 - Jul 16 Christ, not apologies needed ArnieM!
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BangaloreBlues added 12:17 - Jul 16 It says "Town have no intention of selling him this summer". And yet they were negotiating up until the last minute to sell him. Maybe I am missing something. Perhaps they hid the page with the small print and told Brentford at 5pm, "Oh sorry, we missed a page here, there's some clauses you didn't meet." Just basically ran the clock down. If that's the case, then that's pure class! :-) I hope Omari stays. He has been a shining talent and a player that stands out. However, we all know if he wants to leave then he will be gone soon.

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d77sgw added 12:19 - Jul 16 This is a forum for opinions - and even those that wang on with negative comments about the clubs policies that we disagree with are welcome here (less so those that make personal attacks against the fans etc. - but even that has to be tolerated). The aftermath of any season, and the departure of those that we have invested so much emotion in for a few years, is always difficult. I'm still smarting about losing Dalian Atkinson for a pittance...

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bluesissy added 12:23 - Jul 16 Maybe omari should state whether he wants to leave or stay to add a bit of clarity to the situation?
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GTRKing added 12:30 - Jul 16 £35 million upfront take it or leave it Brentford! That’s a good deal for us, Would love Omari to stay but if he wants prem football then let him go! No need to keep unhappy players! We will smash the championship
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boysof1981 added 12:46 - Jul 16 Wonder what Omari thinks of this, and his agent. Can’t see him being here for the start of the season.
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blues1 added 13:17 - Jul 16 Darkhorse28 The point is, we had to accept the £35m bid bcse that was his release clause. Fortunately Ashton had ensured there were other terms in that clause. But now the clause has expired, we,can value him at whatever amount we like? Ur right in as much as we may accept £35m as long as the payment terms are agreeable. But its also possible now that we may want more. And if anyone other than Brentford come in for him, then it could become a bit of a bidding war.

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Rozeeboy74 added 13:34 - Jul 16 If you have ever listened to the podcast The Price of Football, Kieran Maguire explained (not sure which episode) how complex some of these payment plans can be. A club could still be paying for a player that has long since left the club. Maybe we are still paying for Delap or Tuanzebe for example. I guess in this case, Brentford were putting down a really small deposit and paying us over 3 or 4 years. Maybe they are hedging their bets against being sucked into a relegation battle this season and don't want to spend too much. This is clearly no use to us as we would need the cash for the replacement player, or at least a decent deposit. I'm sure the intricacies of football business are way more complex than my small brain can comprehend, but it seems to me we are offering a financial service to Brentford so they can buy our player. Nuts to that!!! You want him, you give us the money - now! Why should we be fleeced so you can have a player at cut price? And if they fail to keep up payments, do we send the bailiffs in to get him back?

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JewellintheTown added 13:37 - Jul 16 I think the club have been much shrewder than many of you realise on this. They're letting this play out and learning from it, not encouraging a sale. Amongst other things, seeing Hutch's worth & figuring out how much we need to do to keep him happy, inc upping his wages. I expect we knew this would happen though and part of the plan. We wont sell. We don't need to. Only Hutch can change that if a "bigger" club comes for him an entice him away. Prem or not, Brentford aren't it though. Keep trusting in the plan and people that got us here. We continue to be in a much better place than any of us dreamt of.

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Bazza8564 added 14:03 - Jul 16 £35m is a huge amount of money for a championship side. £65 with Liams money. That funds the complete next phase of rebuild. End of! Get it done!
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blueboy1981 added 14:47 - Jul 16 Nine out - Three in thus far, with the season fast approaching is not reassuring in terms of a serious attack on the Championship in my book. That’s without anymore departures !!
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boysof1981 added 14:53 - Jul 16 Would it necessarily have to be more than £35 million? If they offered more of the fee upfront I’d guess we’d accept.
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tractorboybig added 15:47 - Jul 16 Not prem standard can be replaced for a lot less
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Edmundo added 16:03 - Jul 16 In the words of Sir Bob Geldoff 40 years ago, give us your money, Brentford, or are you too tinpot to pay the real money Omari is worth?
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ImAbeliever added 16:15 - Jul 16 I believe we’re balancing the books nicely.
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 16:36 - Jul 16 I can remember the payment structure of transfer fees being an issue way back when Sheffield United dithered when paying the agreed fee for Brian Gayle. Thinking 1991?
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:41 - Jul 16 I think we are playing this quite well. Ideally, I would love to keep Omari. However, he may want to go; he will probably go, but now on our terms! Do Brentford want him enough to meet them? Time will tell.
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armchaircritic59 added 19:06 - Jul 16 LondonBen, your post on the previous page was one of the most sensible and correct posts I've read on here for a long time. I think everyone should read it that comes in here. About 3 and a half seasons ago the club was in deep ----, going nowhere fast. The journey we've been on is nothing short of amazing, to the point where we can afford to hold out for over 35M for a player. I for one, never saw it coming, back in the dark days of the earlier 20's. There seems to be a lack of grip on reality on here with some, not all, posters. Yes, last season was disappointing, but from where we came from, it was bloody amazing we got there in the first place!

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dubblue added 19:21 - Jul 16 Does the opening paragrah not say it all "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" Unlike Delap the ball is now in our court, of course we can sell if the price/payment schedule is right but it is up to the club or have I missed something. An unknown factor is what Omari wants and how he might react if reject a £35m/£40m offer? I think this might depend on who makes the offer, this is where the man management skills of McKenna might come in to play

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armchaircritic59 added 19:23 - Jul 16 ArnieM, you're 3 years younger than me, and I respect that it seems you're still paying your hard earned to support the team. I support from the sofa largely due to health reasons. But time moves on and we need to move with it. The days when John Cobbold uttered the imortal phrase, " The only crisis here would be if we ran out of white wine in the boardroom " have long gone. Yes it's much more about money these days than it ever used to be, but it's the way of life now, either the likes of you and I move with it, or we shrivel and die. There's nothing wrong in being emotional about the club, it's in our blue blood!

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RobsonWark added 19:25 - Jul 16 I think this is maybe to do with the PL PSR Rules. This is why Chelsea were offering players 6-10 year deals. Imagine the club buys the £100m player on a five-year contract. After three years their book value is £40m. If they then sell the player for £50m, the PSR calculations would be the £50m sale minus the £40m book value, meaning they made £10m profit under PSR, despite losing £50m in cash overall.

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sidewaysbackwards added 22:02 - Jul 16 The thing is, £35m is never just £35m when it comes to a football transfer. With agents fees and 10-15% (I think?) signing on fee for the player this bumps it’s up massively. As a young kid you must be looking at that £3-4m just for signing on and licking your lips. This could be when it all goes downhill fast and greed takes over.
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Sensiblue added 22:20 - Jul 16 YES d77sgw Amen brother.
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GoingUp added 22:52 - Jul 16 Chelsea have a 25% sell on clause? If so we need north of 35m + get bumper sell on terms. Hutch has huge potential please stay we'll be up again next year
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