The Ipswich academy star who’d be worth more than Hutchinson in 2024 money
Before a ball was even kicked this Premier League season, Ipswich Town supporters would have been reminiscing about when their side was last competing at the very pinnacle of English football.
One moment that will have definitely stuck out is when iconic former Tractor Boys manager George Burley unbelievably clinched a UEFA Cup qualification spot for the Suffolk side come the end of 2000/01 season, a ridiculous achievement after the underdogs had only clinched promotion up to the top division the season prior.
That joy would be short-lived, as relegation was cruelled served up just a season after this major achievement, but Kieran McKenna now has a great opportunity to put Ipswich back on the footballing map in a similar way in the here and now.
It hasn’t all gone to plan so far, with zero wins on the board from his side’s opening three Premier League games, but he will hope the likes of Omari Hutchinson can shine going forward to try and help the Tractor Boys succeed.
Hutchinson’s move to Ipswich
McKenna will have everything crossed that Hutchinson does come good in the Premier League, having got the best out of him last campaign in the division below during an electric loan stint.
The now ex-Chelsea youngster would fire home 11 strikes and pick up six assists in all competitions last season on loan in Suffolk, combining well with the likes of George Hirst and Conor Chaplin at Portman Road in the attacking positions to make automatic promotion a reality.
His fantastic form in the Championship towards the back-end of last campaign would come at a big cost this summer for McKenna’s men, however, as his stock had very much increased, meaning Chelsea weren’t going to allow the 5 foot 9 attacker to return back to Portman Road for peanuts.
In the end, Hutchinson would become a record purchase for the newly promoted side at the £20m mark this summer, which could prove to be a transfer misfire down the line if the two-time Jamaica international struggles in trying to keep his new side afloat in the top-flight.
He hasn’t set the world alight on his return yet, with zero goals or assists tallied up during his side’s four league games to date, but there is still plenty more action to come for his team in the Premier League before Hutchinson can be written off as an extortionate buy.
Amazingly, if you were to transport yourself back to the decorated times of Burley in the dug-out, one former Ipswich youth product from the 90s would actually be sold on for more than Hutchinson’s £20m, if that same major switch happened through the lens of today’s inflated transfer landscape.
That can be magically calculated using TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index, which looks at what major deals from yesteryear would look like in the present day.
