Town boss Kieran McKenna says the interest in Blues forward Omari Hutchinson is no surprise with Brentford understood to have made multiple offers for the England U21 international.

The Bees matched the £35 million relegation release clause in Hutchinson’s contract before Tuesday’s 5pm deadline but failed to offer payment terms which would have triggered it.

However, the West Londoners, who yesterday agreed to sell forward Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United for £70 million, are expected to come back in for the former Chelsea man with some reports claiming the Blues want £40 million for his services.

Hutchinson hasn’t been with the Town squad in Austria as he was given additional time off having been with England’s victorious U21s squad at the European Championship in Slovakia.

Quizzed on the situation following Town’s 4-1 friendly victory over Blau-Weiß Linz, McKenna said: “Omari’s still on his holiday, a well-earned break from the summer.

“There’s obviously been interested parties in Omari, which is natural with how he’s done but he’s still an Ipswich Town player.

“My full focus really has been on the group that’s here and hopefully we’ll catch up with Omari this week.”

The Blues 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 - 25 per cent of profit was reported at time of last year’s move - Town would receive.

Photo: Matchday Images

flykickingbybgunn added 20:46 - Jul 19 I think it really depends on Hutch. What does he want ? No point in keeping an unhappy player. But on the other hand if he wants to stay well that is a different matter
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tractorfromongar added 20:47 - Jul 19 Starting to feel like we're selling off all the silverware
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PortmanTerrorist added 21:16 - Jul 19 Hope Omari learned the hard way that it's not easy finding a home in football....and he has one. He needs to be in a front-foot team and cannot help think Brentford will be almost as much on the back foot as we were last year. They most likely going to start sliding whereas, as a Club, we are on the up. If he goes, then need to be to a better Club than Brentford. Simple

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jas0999 added 21:28 - Jul 19 where are we with incomings?
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churchmans added 21:46 - Jul 19 Love it how with our ownership we are not short of money and we dictate how much we sell for and in what terms! Even if we dont want to sell we dont have to! The days of us being a selling club is long gone
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Bazza8564 added 07:56 - Jul 20 Economics is everything. #40m for a player with 3 goals and 2 assists last season in 31 games when we have the options we showed yesterday? This is an absolute no brainer, we can buy 3 quality players with that money, players who will get us back up. Get it done!
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johnwarksshorts added 08:23 - Jul 20 I hope Omari loves it here and doesn't want to go. IMO he needs another season here before he's ready for top flight football. No disrespect to Brentford but he can do better than that if he has decided to go.
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pherabella added 09:58 - Jul 20 Sadly he will be off this week I think
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