Nottingham Forest working on potential club-record Omari Hutchinson deal

Nottingham Forest are pushing to sign Omari Hutchinson in a potential club-record deal worth about £37m. Forest, who are also closing on a £30m move for James McAtee from Manchester City, are confident of beating rivals to the signing of the Ipswich winger.

Hutchinson expressed his desire to return to the Premier League to the Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, after relegation last season and has not featured this campaign. A release clause of about £35m is thought to have lapsed.

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Forest and Brentford have had bids for Hutchinson rejected but the former are now optimistic about adding the 21-year-old, who has also been the subject of interest from Everton, to their squad. Forest made Dan Ndoye their record buy last month by signing the Switzerland winger from Bologna for £35m to replace Anthony Elanga, who joined Newcastle in a £55m deal, but are ready to eclipse that fee.

Forest are also pursuing deals for Douglas Luiz, who is keen to return to the Premier League from Juventus, the Rennes striker Arnaud Kalimuendo and McAtee, with the England Under-21s midfielder poised for a medical in the coming days. Forest are among the clubs to have tracked Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes but the Championship club want about £40m for the Portuguese midfielder.

Chelsea are poised to profit from Hutchinson moving on, after they inserted a clause in the £20m deal that took him to Ipswich last year entitling them to 25% of any profit from a future sale. Hutchinson, who returned to his boyhood club, Chelsea, from Arsenal in 2022, was one of Ipswich’s best performers last season but scored only three top-flight goals.

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