Why Ipswich Town don't need to worry if Omari Hutchinson leaves to join West Ham | OneFootball

Ipswich Town would still have plenty of depth in the wide areas if winger Omari Hutchinson departs for West Ham United.

Ipswich Town are preparing for life back in the Championship after their relegation from the Premier League.

After winning back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, Ipswich returned to the top flight for the first time in 22 years last season, but the increase in quality proved to be a little too much for them.

The Tractor Boys spent almost the entire season in the bottom three, and they were relegated back to the Championship after winning only four games during the course of the campaign and picking up just 22 points.

As things stand, Ipswich look to have a squad that is more than capable of competing for promotion next season in the second tier, but after selling star striker Liam Delap to Chelsea for £30 million earlier this month, they could be set to lose another of their key players in the form of winger Omari Hutchinson.

West Ham United plotting move for Ipswich Town winger Omari Hutchinson

Hutchinson initially joined Ipswich on loan from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, and he played a starring role as his side won automatic promotion from the Championship in the 2023-24 season, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists in 47 appearances.

The 21-year-old's impressive form during his loan spell convinced the Tractor Boys to pay a club-record fee of £20 million, plus a further £2.5 million in performance-related add-ons, to sign him permanently last summer.

Like many of his team-mates, Hutchinson found the step up to the Premier League tough at times, but he was widely regarded as one of Ipswich's better performers during their relegation season, and he finished the campaign with a total of three goals and two assists in 32 games.

It seems Hutchinson may have done enough to earn another opportunity in the top flight as, according to the Daily Mail, Everton, Brentford, West Ham United and Fulham are all monitoring the winger, along with German duo Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, and the Tractor Boys could be willing to listen to offers in the region of £30 million.

However, West Ham could be set to accelerate their pursuit of Hutchinson, with Football Insider claiming that scouts from the London outfit were watching the Ipswich man in action as he helped England to victory in the European Under-21 Championship this summer, including scoring the second goal in the 3-2 win over Germany in the final on Saturday.

Of course, Hutchinson could be a huge threat for the Tractor Boys next season in the Championship, but while they would be disappointed to lose him, his departure would not be the end of the world for Kieran McKenna's side.

For most sides in the Championship, losing a player of Hutchinson's quality would be devastating to their prospects for the season, but given the depth they have in the wide areas, Ipswich should not be overly worried if he was to leave this summer.

Jaden Philogene was unable to save the Tractor Boys from relegation after arriving from Aston Villa for a fee of £20 million in January, while Jack Clarke found it even tougher to make an impact at Portman Road following his £15 million move from Sunderland last summer.

However, the pair are both proven performers at Championship level, with Philogene scoring 12 goals and providing six assists in 32 games for Hull in the 2023-24 campaign and Clarke netting 15 goals and registering four assists in 42 appearances for Sunderland during his previous season at the level, so both could be capable of tearing up the division next term if they remain in Suffolk.

Nathan Broadhead played a key role in Ipswich's promotion campaign two seasons ago, scoring 13 goals and providing six assists in 41 games, and he remains on the club's books, while McKenna will also be looking forward to welcoming popular winger Wes Burns back after a long spell on the sidelines with a knee injury.

Chiedozie Ogbene made just six appearances for the Tractor Boys before rupturing his Achilles in October, but although he has become something of a forgotten man in recent months, he was a consistent performer in the Championship during his time at Rotherham United, so he could be another useful asset for McKenna's men next season.

If those options were not enough for Ipswich, Sammie Szmodics, who was the top scorer in the Championship for Blackburn Rovers with 27 goals in the 2023-24 season, will be fighting it out with Conor Chaplin for the number 10 spot, so the players at McKenna's disposal in the attacking areas would still be the envy of the rest of the division, even if Hutchinson was to depart.

Hutchinson, of course, is comfortable both out wide or in an attacking midfield role, where the aforementioned Philogene - though a winger by trade - excelled on occassion during a fruitful loan spell at this level with Cardiff City in the 2022/23 season.

Selling Hutchinson for around £30 million would also add to the profit the Tractor Boys made on Delap, giving McKenna's summer transfer budget a further boost, and that would enable him to either find a like-for-like replacement for the winger or, perhaps more likely, bring in a prolific striker to provide competition for George Hirst up front.