Boss Roy Keane says he would be lynched by Town supporters if he was to let boy wonder striker Connor Wickham move to Sunderland this summer. Reports emanating from the North-East over the last couple of weeks have claimed that the Black Cats want Wickham to move to Wearside as part of an exchange deal which would see Daryl Murphy, David Healy and/or Jack Colback joining the Blues on a permanent basis.

When the widely reported story was put to Keane by TWTD at his press conference, the Blues boss dismissed it out of hand: “That’s your silliest question of the season! And you’ve had some silly ones!

“I’m pretty sure Connor signed a contract a few weeks ago. I think our club is well run, Connor’s happy here, we’re happy with him and I think I’d be lynched by the supporters if we were talking about selling him.”

Keane says it’s wrong to consider players, particularly youngsters, merely as commodities: “Connor’s learning his trade, he’s doing well and we shouldn’t talk about a young player like Connor as if he’s a piece of meat that we’re going to sell to the highest bidder.

“I think the club’s good like that, I think with the owner we’re well run, we’re under no pressure and Sunderland wouldn’t be able to afford him anyway. They could swap him for 20 of their players and Brucey knows that.”

Keane’s former Manchester United team-mate and close friend Steve Bruce admitted that he was aware of Wickham’s talent and would be interested if he became available, but conceded that plenty of other sides would also be in the hunt.

The Town manager says it’s no surprise that Bruce would know all about the 17-year-old: “If you’re a manager in the Premiership and you’re interested in players, of course you’d be aware of him. If he’s not aware of Connor then he must be living on a different planet, because of the speculation over the last few months before he signed his contract.

“Connor’s got a great chance of being a good player, but he’s still learning his trade. He’s learning it fast, I’ll give him that. The good players do.”

Wickham signed a two-year professional deal with the Blues a fortnight ago, the longest professional contract a player can agree at 17.

Photo: Action Images

Lightningboy added 15:44 - Apr 23 benny,maybe we should start looking across the waters to holland again rather than bringing them in by the lorry load from ireland..been too long since we had some dutch magic in our team.
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WeWereZombies added 15:47 - Apr 23 Do we have to wait until he sells Wickham? And if it was public and arranged as a half-time event on the opening game of the season it would boost season ticket sales. Might make bringing in a replacement a problem, though.
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petersongoal added 16:25 - Apr 23 excellent news! at least it sounds as if he's learnt a lesson from last summer! still though, i'm going down the DIY section in a bit to get me a length of rope...just incase haha!
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Mungo added 18:48 - Apr 23 Hmm, by selling tickets to the lynching we could raise enough money so as not to have to sell Wickham in the first place!!! I jest. The fact is we have to live in the real world and that Premiership clubs may be prepared to bid big for him, and we should be prepared to accept in the right circumstances. We are in a position to be firmer than we have been in the past though, but we must also be reminded that potential doesn't always develop (we turned down big money bids for Matt Richards, Billy Clarke and Dean Bowditch that, in retrospect, I'm sure we would have rather accepted!). £6m plus Colback and a decent sell on fee would be a decent deal...

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TheCurly added 22:05 - Apr 23 Some good points already raised, for me Wickham is the only bright spot on the horizon and just about the only reason I re-newed my season ticket, well that and the hour or so I spend in the pub before a game!! It would be madness to sell/swap at this time as in a year or so's time Connor's price could be sky high, I really think the lad has the lot, and seeing the progress he has made kind of makes you understand why Rhodes was sold.

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BlueFinn added 13:50 - Apr 24 I totally agree with bennyblue. Roy should realise that going back to his old players and clubs only tells us he has a lot of homework to do with other sources of players. And that definitely includes Ireland, yes
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