Omari Hutchinson’s transfer to Ipswich Town has been confirmed, as has the cut of the fee Arsenal will receive from their sell-on clause.
Ipswich Town confirmed on Sunday night that they’ve completed the signing of former Gunner Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea on a permanent basis for a club-record fee.
Hutchinson spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan with Ipswich in the Championship.
The BBC had reported prior to the announcement that the fee would be £20m, with a further £2.5m potentially due in add-ons.
Arsenal had a sell-on clause in the deal, and Nizaar Kinsella has now confirmed that the clause was worth 15%. So Arsenal will receive £3m of the initial fee, and another £375,000 if Hutchinson meets his add-on targets.
The Gunners also received a fee when Hutchinson first moved to Chelsea on a permanent transfer in 2022. That deal was not a free transfer, contrary to many reports.
Hutchinson was still under contract with Arsenal when he made the Chelsea move, even playing for the u21s in pre-season days before it was confirmed, so he wasn’t eligible for a free transfer move.
Sell-on clauses also don’t exist for players who are out of contract, so the rumour never made much sense.
Yet the fee for that initial Arsenal-Chelsea deal has never been confirmed, and it was reportedly a relatively modest fee.
In the end, Chelsea are proving the primary financial beneficiaries of Hutchinson’s academy career, picking up £17m from Ipswich and sending Arsenal £3m.
Whatever Chelsea paid Arsenal in 2022, it surely wasn’t enough to bridge that £14m gap.
Chelsea earned that money without integrating Hutchinson into their first-team, giving him just 49 senior minutes. That’s the impact that a good loan can have, and it’s clear the Gunners need to improve on that front.