Blues forward Omari Hutchinson is on his way to Nottingham Forest to undergo a medical and complete his switch to the Premier League side.

Last night, it was reported that the Tricky Trees were close to agreeing a £37.5 million fee for the 21-year-old with all aspects of the deal now agreed, according to various sources.

Hutchinson is now on his way to the City Ground for a medical with personal terms understood to have already been agreed.

The fee is a new record for the Blues, eclipsing the £30 million Chelsea paid for Liam Delap earlier in the summer, while Hutchinson’s former side Chelsea are reported elsewhere to be due 25 per cent of the profit, the Blues having signed the Redhill-born attacker for £20 million plus add-ons last summer.

It’s also a new record for Forest, beating the £35 million move for Dan Ndoye from Bologna only last month.

The fee is also understood to be the sixth-highest paid for a Championship player behind the £53 million Chelsea paid Southampton for Roméo Lavia in 2023, the £40 million Spurs handed Leicester for James Maddison the same summer and the same figure Brighton splashed out on Georginio Rutter when they signed him from Leeds a year later.

Nathan Ake moved from Bournemouth to Man City for £41 million in 2020 and Harvey Barnes from Leicester to Newcastle in 2023 for £38 million.

Last week, Forest had an offer of £35 million turned down by Town, while Brentford had a number of bids turned down, the highest also £35 million, and Everton and Serie A Inter have also been credited with an interest in the England U21 international.

Hutchinson has appeared certain to leave the Blues this summer having stayed behind when Town travelled to Auxerre for the final pre-season friendly with manager Kieran McKenna revealing on Tuesday that the 21-year-old “didn’t feel that he could contribute” at Bromley, having missed the season opener at Birmingham on Friday due to a throat infection.

Hutchinson is said to be a replacement for Anthony Elanga, who recently joined Newcastle for £55 million, at Forest.

Photo: Matchday Images

Scringe added 13:41 - Aug 15 Wouldn’t be surprised if Brentford tried to gazump Forest with a last ditch £40 million bid
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Jonathan_Charles added 13:44 - Aug 15 Hutchison, Delap and Morsy and to some extent Burgess were a cut above most of the players at the club. That is why they have international honours and that is why we got promoted. Delap was always going to go when we were relegated, Morsy deserved his move to the Middle East and went with everyone’s blessings. Burgess went because management preferred Greaves (although I am not sure fans did). Hutchison is the one who hurts, because town can’t find a player who is good enough to replace him and they worry about going up without him. Town performances without him have not been good enough. But, Hutchison is good enough for the move and should take it. The biggest problem is that none of the business done in the transfer window has brought much excitement. For whatever reason players of the same class as Hutchison was when he came to us aren’t prepared to join McKenna’s team now

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Bergholtblue added 13:49 - Aug 15 I wonder how much of this has been influenced by conversations with other players in the England U21 squad? Would it had been a different outcome if we had signed Hackney? We will never know. Whilst I am always on the side of a contract needs to be honoured, we did add in a release clause, which in turn means we were accepting that if we went down, we were accepting that he wanted to leave. So what is the surprise?

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ArnieM added 13:50 - Aug 15 Hutchinson seen being driven down the A14 towards Nottingham, windiw found down with a hand displaying an extended middle finger to Ipswich. That's the kind of " professional" footballer we have in the gane now. It stinks. Just about every thread, article, post isvabout how much MONEY/ Profit deals will bring . Where the f cuk has FOOTBALL gone in all this? The game is bloody morally spent. F cuk the lot of em!

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shakytown added 13:53 - Aug 15 So many whiny pathetic little babies here. Players come and go and we will be signing others from other clubs whose fans don't like them leaving as well. Get behind the team and the manager and cut the infantile rubbish and slagging matches. DO YOU SUPPORT IPSWIICH TOWN or your own fat egos?????
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TimmyH added 13:54 - Aug 15 Any evidence ArnieM? but totally the game has gone down the plughole regarding money.
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Broadbent23 added 13:55 - Aug 15 Does Town get a sell on fee when he leaves Nottingham Forest; because life will not get easy in 2026/27 when Forest are no longer in Europe.
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chepstowblue added 13:59 - Aug 15 As has been seen in the two dreadful performances so far, Omari was the only player in our squad this season with a real X-factor. At present we have resorted back to looking like a very ordinary championship side. Personally, I'll miss him, but he's one of the very few that deserves to be in Prem, based on ability. Good luck to him. Let's spend the money wisely.
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virginblue added 14:00 - Aug 15 Makes me laugh people getting upset by this. If his agent hadn’t ballsed things up he’d have gone for £35 million to Brentford without any of this fuss. We’ve ended up getting an extra £2.5 million as a result - so I say we should thank Omari and his agent rather than ejecting toys from pram.
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BlueNomad added 14:01 - Aug 15 Just a few short years ago Forest were where we are now. Who knows where we might get, with or without OH?
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thatsbonkers added 14:05 - Aug 15 Harsh truth is Omari represents a £37.5 million commodity that we could not afford to get damaged. The club should have banned him from playing until the matter got concluded.
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virginblue added 14:11 - Aug 15 Exactly that Bonkers. If someone offers you more money for a car than it’s worth, you don’t think “oh, I’ll just take it for one final spin around a supermarket car park in Bromley”.
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bluesman added 14:14 - Aug 15 Lay off Omari. The club decided to sell him weeks if not months ago. Brilliant player. Good luck to him.
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ArnieM added 14:21 - Aug 15 Shakytown: odd name for an IPSWICH fan!! You must be a budgie.
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blueoutlook added 14:25 - Aug 15 Been here two seasons. Had 6 good months the second half of our championship year. First half of that season he didn’t do much. Last season in the PL he looked totally out his depth. I’m not that fussed to be honest, but what an appalling way to treat a club,management and fans who have backed you. I have little respect for the guy I’m afraid.
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bushhillblue added 14:34 - Aug 15 someone needs to cull these big clubs they have every angle covered now regards transfers delap 30 must be worth 60 so we lose 30 because of buy back clause etc Hutchinson lose 25%sell on clause big clubs just now get best youngsters and make big bucks further down the line they can't lose iwould like to see all clauses removed once u sell a player that's it I can see premier being all foreigners and man City Chelsea loanes in years to co.e needs sorting

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Bert added 14:47 - Aug 15 I’m not sure what is worse; Omari showing no respect to our club or the loutish behaviour of some on here.
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FromIpswichToPhoenix added 15:00 - Aug 15 Imagine p*ssing your Town legacy away for Nottingham Forest. A team who two seasons ago barely missed relegation. Can't help but wonder what his agent was whispering in his ear to order him to drop tools.
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Lukeybluey added 15:09 - Aug 15 As much as I wanted to see philogene, smodz and hutch rip it it up together in the champ, its probably for the best. Clarke I hope starts to rip it up like at Sunderland, just wish he'd put his shorts on a high heat wash a few times to shrink them a bit... just like what davis done with his socks this season...his socks shrunk last season to his ankles, and ended up not having his best season, they have now gone up again to his knees this season, so hopefully he has a storming season this season Cheers!

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