Blues manager Kieran McKenna says forward Omari Hutchinson will be with the squad on Friday night at Birmingham if he overcomes a medical issue picked up earlier in the week.

The England U21 international was left out of the party which travelled to Auxerre at the weekend as he “didn’t feel mentally in the right place” given the speculation regarding his future.

Brentford had bids of up to £35 million offer turned down last month but are widely expected to come back in for the 21-year-old. Earlier in the week, The Sun linked Nottingham Forest, Everton, Inter Milan and RB Leipzig with interest in the former Chelsea man.

“Omari was training on Monday and trained well and then unfortunately has had a medical issue for the last two days, so hasn’t been with the group,” McKenna said.

“Hopefully, if there’s a good recovery from that, he’ll be with us on Friday night.”

Asked whether there was anything ongoing with Hutchinson at present, any active interest, McKenna said: “I think there’s interest in lots of our players. We’ve had some strong performances over the last few years. We’ve got different interest in different players, I won’t list them all.

“He’s certainly a player of ours who has interest from different clubs, but there’s nothing really to update. He’s an Ipswich player and the club has real goals this season and everyone who is an Ipswich player at the moment has to be fully ready to contribute to those and be ready to help us have a successful year.”

Asked how challenging it is for managers to be supportive to a player going through transfer uncertainty, McKenna reflected: “It’s about having empathy, and that needs to be the case on both sides.

"Of course, from players who have interest, and we’ve got quite a few players in the squad who have interest or different options, of course, you want to see it from their perspective and you do understand it from their perspective in terms of a player’s career being short and you want to support them in the best way with the career steps that they want to make.

“But then also as the manager, your chief responsibility is doing the right thing by the club and the right thing by the club is making sure we have the strength and the quality that we need to have a successful season.

“Of course, you want all those goals to marry up. We haven’t had too many instances over the last few years that they haven’t but the situation we’re in now, those positions, those priorities aren’t always exactly the same and that’s the natural challenge of the position that we’re in.

“I think it’s important that empathy is shown in both directions, professionalism, doing the right thing, sticking to the right values and finding the right solutions for all parties.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Wacko added 15:03 - Aug 6 you might want to re-write that Sun link, Phil
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TimmyH added 15:12 - Aug 6 hhmmmm....wasn't in the right state of mind to play against Auxerre and now a 'medical issue' (not injury) although though travelling with the squad, Still smacks of a player with his thoughts elsewhere!
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Bluewhiteboy added 15:18 - Aug 6 Just need to cash in and get a couple of good players in with the money before window closes
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Dissboyitfc added 15:20 - Aug 6 That old chestnut!
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Marinersnose added 15:20 - Aug 6 Omari will be a huge asset to the team if he’s involved on Friday. He’s one of the very best at this level and is improving all the time. I’ll be more confident of a top 6 finish with him involved this season. We haven’t got any other players with his quality who can play that important role. He will have learned a lot last season and had some outstanding performances in the PL. I know he’s not the finished product yet but he’s moving in the right direction

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blueboy1981 added 15:20 - Aug 6 Anyone remember ‘Emergency Ward 10’ ?? - I’m sure Portman Road resembles it as the direct replacement. What the Hell is wrong with this Club ?? - much it seems right now !
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blueboy1981 added 15:25 - Aug 6 Sorry TimmyH - actually did an ‘agree’ - but even that went the other way !
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Bert added 15:38 - Aug 6 My take on Hutchinson is that he is not a mature 21 year old so cannot handle the speculation as others might. He appears also to be a loner and one that KMcK has invested a lot of his time in. Rather than run with a narrative fed by the media, KMcK correctly positions the situation in a neutral way.
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jas0999 added 15:39 - Aug 6 Ah, in other words he doesn’t want to play as he wants out. A permanent replacement needed first especially if Broadhead goes and JP is injured.
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WaltonBlueNaze added 15:39 - Aug 6 Personally I think Omari owes it to KM and his teammates to make himself available on Friday after his poor attitude last week. Show everyone how good he can be and then the rest will take care of itself. COYB
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MickMillsTash added 15:42 - Aug 6 With a view to 26/27 I would stick with Omari- his value will not decrease at 22 after a season playing well in the Championship 35Mill can easily be wasted
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blues1 added 15:45 - Aug 6 Blueboy1981. Just cant help urself can you? We have r injuries, 1 long term from last season, and 3 from preseason games. How does that mean theres somethingcwrong at the club. It's a sport. Players get injured. If ours was the only club where this happens u may have a point, but thats not the case. Happens at many clubs. Part and parcel of football unfortunately.
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ringwoodblue added 15:47 - Aug 6 What’s that’s smell? Oh it’s bullsh1t! Sorry but he plays or he goes, it’s as simple as that .
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kitmanbarcs added 16:02 - Aug 6 No way Hutch will be there Friday the medical injury he has is .... that his heads gone !
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BurleysGloryDays added 16:31 - Aug 6 Such a shame, our boy Omari. All will be forgiven as soon as he pulls on the shirt again. More legend for him to write in club folklore here
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darkhorse28 added 16:49 - Aug 6 KM handled this poorly last week, truthfully, but poorly. It’s a bit late for medical issues. Not available due to various issues and no further comment was all that was required. Threw Omari under the bus the bus, after doing a lot of hard work to protect a young player over the last couple of years. It’s poor. Get it done and don’t limit our ability to use any additional budget…, we don’t need such a good player sulking. And essentially seeing he doesn’t want to play last week doesn’t help build trust. Let’s move forwards, KM needs to decide if he wants to be honest, or manage relationships with a bit more nuance.

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ArnieM added 17:11 - Aug 6 " medical issue".... yer, right.
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surgery added 17:53 - Aug 6 Is that the same medical issue that Brandon Williams was receiving treatment for at Old Trafford when he was supposed to be playing for us?
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JeremiahBrown added 18:34 - Aug 6 He really needs to go, as otherwise he could pull the rest of the team down, and also Mckenna has enough to do without having to worry about Omari - he needs to be concentrating on the rest of the team and the next match. Best to let him go now and get someone else in while we can.
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TimmyH added 18:38 - Aug 6 Typical blues1 with a down vote, does he mark anybody up ever??...not a betting man but I'd say I'm not far from the truth.
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armchaircritic59 added 19:01 - Aug 6 blueboy1981, oh god, Emergency Ward 10, you must be as old as me! As for what's wrong at this club right now, I'd say not much apart from a continued catalogue of injuries, non of which I suspect have been obtained deliberately. I'm guessing you have another opinion however.
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Carberry added 19:12 - Aug 6 Armchair, I recall Bristol City fans telling us the appointment of Andy Rolls (another colleague of Ashton's) would mean the treatment room would be full of injured players and that seems to have come to pass. Not much else wrong apart from dismal recruitment over the last 2 years and the club being up for sale.
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tetchris added 19:46 - Aug 6 It’s a medical issue called nottm forest! It’s a new virus which he will probably recover from very soon when he and his agent get a fee for signing for Forest :)
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blueboy1981 added 20:55 - Aug 6 All in all a Shambles just two days before the season begins. If Gamechanger still have any interest, other than to sell / off load the Club - some heads will surely have to roll before long. If we do not hit the ground running - then do not be surprised at absolutely anything. So much just does not add up, or make sense at all.
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