Arsenal have no financial incentive to make a transfer before the end of June, but that does not mean they cannot benefit from their Premier League counterparts making deals before the 30 June accounting deadline.
They and West Ham United are the capital’s only two top-flight clubs who run to a financial year ending on 31 May rather than the end of this month. Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the division’s only other outliers.
Chelsea, notably, are not and have multiple players set to leave Stamford Bridge this weekend. Ian Maatsen is moving to Aston Villa, and now Omari Hutchinson is returning to Ipswich Town permanently.
The latter move is welcome news to Arsenal, as the winger spent seven years in the club’s academy. After turning 17, Hutchinson signed his first professional contract at the Emirates Stadium in November 2020.
Over the following 18 months, he made the bench for first-team matches ten times without being given a debut before transferring to Chelsea for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2022. But as part of that deal, football.london understand that Arsenal inserted a sell-on clause that will now see them receive a percentage of the transfer fee Ipswich pays Chelsea.
It is unclear what the percentage Arsenal will receive at this stage, but football.london understands the newly promoted club bid in the region of £22 million for Hutchinson and that a transfer is happening between the two clubs. He spent last season on loan in East Anglia as they finished second in the Championship.
Hutchinson scored 11 goals and assisted another six in 50 appearances across all competitions. Assuming the move happens, Hutchinson will return to the Emirates with Ipswich on Boxing Day. His first senior match against Chelsea comes three days later when both teams play on 29 December.
