How much Nottingham Forest may need to pay Ipswich Town’s Omari Hutchinson in wages if he signs | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest have matched Brentford's £35m bid for Omari Hutchinson; the player will be expecting a pay increase from any transfer.

Nottingham Forest have made a bid for the Ipswich Town winger Omari Hutchinson, in what could be the latest headline exit at Portman Road this summer.

Hutchinson has been the subject of intense transfer speculation all summer, following Ipswich Town's relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Brentford had been leading the chase for the player, and they matched a £35 million release clause in Hutchinson's contract in July.

However, they couldn't agree a payment structure with Ipswich and the clause expired, meaning that Ipswich could increase their valuation of the player and require interested clubs to pay that amount instead.

It's now been reported that Nottingham Forest have now joined the race for the 21-year-old, and The Athletic have reported that they've had a bid of £35 million rejected by Ipswich as well.

Brentford have been reported by the Evening Standard to be preparing an improved £37.5 million bid for the player, but there is no indication that this has been submitted yet.

How much Nottingham Forest may have to pay Omari Hutchinson

While a transfer fee in the region of £35-40m is a significant financial outlay for any player, Forest might find that the player's wage demands to be manageable.

Capology estimates that Hutchinson's wage at Ipswich has been a relatively modest £6,000-a-week, which wouldn't even put him in the top 100 earners in the Championship.

But such figures should be treated with caution, because the estimates of Hutchinson's earnings vary wildly.

Salary Sport have estimated his wage to be £40,000-a-week, a huge discrepancy which amounts to £1.7 million a year.

But regardless of his current income at Ipswich, Hutchinson will be expecting a better deal should he move back to the Premier League, and given Forest's success in the Premier League recently, they will no doubt be capable of offering the England youth international very lucrative terms.

Ipswich will turn a handsome profit should Hutchinson be sold, and the player will expect to do the same

In the event that Ipswich Town can reach agreement over a transfer fee for Omari Hutchinson, it's highly unlikely that he would sign a contract for anything like £6,000-a-week in the Premier League, considering he'd be a marquee addition to the Forest squad.

Using a like-for-like comparison, Capology estimates that the average wage of a Premier League player to be around £62,000-a-week, with a variance from the £1,000-a-week earned by Charlie Crew of Leeds United, all the way up to the £525,000-a-week earned by Erling Haaland.

If Hutchinson's current earnings are towards the lower end of that scale, this will be on account of his age. He was just 18 when he signed his first senior contract with Chelsea, and his first season at Ipswich was spent on loan from the Stamford Bridge club.

But while the player will have a desire to play at the highest level in the forefront of his mind, it's also unlikely that Hutchinson will want to return to the Premier League on a wage that would be considered modest, even by the standards of the Championship, and the possibility of a bidding war between two Premier League clubs for him strengthens his hand in any transfer negotiations.

Should Brentford, Nottingham Forest, or anyone else end up agreeing a price with Ipswich, it will be down to the player concerned to decide which offer he accepts.

And while Nottingham Forest have the advantage of being able to offer him European football, the wage - and any accompanying bonuses - will be a significant part of his decision-making process.

Ipswich signed Hutchinson for £22.5m last summer after a year on loan at Portman Road, so they stand to make a handsome profit in the event that they sell him this summer.