Nottingham Forest invested heavily in Omari Hutchinson during the summer of 2025, but four managers later the player has found himself on loan at AC Milan.

After a £37.5 million outlay, it was anticipated that Hutchinson would become a cornerstone of the club’s attack for many years to come. However, Oliver Glasner had other ideas.

Hutchinson was a victim of four different managers trying to revive Forest last season. Under Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira, however, he did play a lot of football with his ability to unpick low blocks, drive past full-backs and create quality chances being the main attributes of his game.

Although Hutchinson perhaps offers the spark needed at Forest right now, Glasner had other ideas and made the controversial move to part with the 22-year-old player.

Forest should have kept Hutchinson over Dan Ndoye

It’s not hard to see why Glasner prefers Ndoye. Before a ball was kicked this season, it was claimed that the head coach wanted taller players in his squad, and the Swiss performer does have that over Hutchinson.

However, Ndoye often overcomplicates things when he gets into good areas. Despite scoring twice this season, he showed little composure when being afforded a good chance at Portman Road against Ipswich, and his wasteful nature is crippling Forest.

Hutchinson is the sort of player – much like Callum Hudson-Odoi – who can drive at the opposition, stretch the game and bring a little bit of something different when chasing games. Furthermore, he’s left-footed, and Forest’s squad badly lacks that trait.

This isn’t even a slight on Ndoye. The international performer has been vastly improved from last season, although that particular bar was quite low given how bad he was during 2025/26 after signing from Bologna.

Hutchinson is just different. At 22, there is vast potential there, and although he will have jumped at the chance to join Milan, there’s no doubt that with guarantees of some game time at Forest, he’d have welcomed the chance to play under Glasner at the City Ground.

How Hutchinson can still have a Forest future

There is a sense that Ndoye might well leave in the future. If a club in Italy does come calling and Forest have the option to get a better player through the door, the club might act.

Hutchinson could also come back to Forest at some point. Milan have agreed a deal of £40 million to sign him permanently, but it’s merely an option and not a mandatory clause within the deal.

It’s very rare that Serie A clubs spend that much money on attacking players, and given that Hutchinson isn’t yet a regular in the team for the league campaign, there seems little chance they will pay that sum.

Ideally, Hutchinson gets experience at a top club under his belt and then comes back to the Reds. There have already been games this season where his ability on the ball might have proved useful in one of the number 10 spots, and letting him leave does feel like a bit of an oversight on the club’s part.