Town Set Wickham Price Claim Sunday, 18th Jul 2010 09:25
Town have put a £10 million price-tag on striker Connor Wickham’s head, according to several of this morning’s tabloids. Speculation regarding Wickham’s future has continued throughout the week after Arsenal were reported to have joined Spurs in chasing the Blues’ England U17 international.
Town have repeatedly said that they want to hold on to their prize asset, while the player himself has insisted that he is happy at Portman Road.
Elsewhere, former Blue Jamie Clapham is set to join his hometown club Lincoln City. The 34-year-old was released by Notts County at the end of last season.
Ex-Town keeper Andy Marshall is training and playing pre-season friendlies with Colchester United having been released by Coventry. However, the U’s say they have no plans to sign the one-time England U21 international, who is only covering short-term injury problems.
Meanwhile, former midfielder Sammy Moore has joined Blue Square Premier side Wimbledon after a trial.
Photo: Action Images
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Marcus added 09:33 - Jul 18
How about £10m and a 4 year loan back, where he signs a four year contract and Town have have first option to buy back and 75% of future transfers... :p | | |
blues1 added 10:11 - Jul 18
nice fantasy marcus. "4 yr loan & 75% of future transfers"? not even our club wld sign sum1 on those terms, & we gave lee martin a 4 yr deal!!!! | | |
jas0999 added 10:45 - Jul 18
ME will mak the final decision on this. If a bid of £10M comes in then Wickham will sadly be sold. I just hope that if a deal has to be done it won't be 2 days before the start of the season - especially bearing in mind that we don't have any other decent strikers at the club! There is much for Roy to do. If we lose Wickham then TWO strikers are a must, along with a central defender (cover for Delaney), right back and a left midfielder. | | |
bedsitfc added 10:56 - Jul 18
story on wickham wont go away, beginning to think it will happen. my heart says dont sell but head says thats five new players. | | |
blues1 added 11:06 - Jul 18
beds, ur spot on. tho none of us wants him 2 b sold, u have 2 look at the bigger picture, & £10m wld buy, mayb not 5, but certainly 3 new players, that jst cld help us 2 achieve success here. lets rewmember, no1 wanted kieron dyer 2 b sold when he was, but the money received frm his sale bought us new players, & we immediately got promoted. so, sumtimes these difficult decisions have 2 b made, & can b 4 the better, even tho it not seem rite at the time. | | |
hmhb added 11:22 - Jul 18
sell sell sell | | |
JonTheBass added 11:23 - Jul 18
5 players, 3 players, it might as well be 10! The problem is that for whatever reason, players don't seem to want to come here. There's money available now for signings, the right people at the right price, but all our reported targets seem to be either signing for other clubs or staying put. £10m is no doubt a very good price for Wickham, but it's pointless if RK seems not to be able to spend it. I'm bothered that we'll take the money and most of it goes to covering the club's debts, and we end up with no better than we've had this season, maybe we sign Stern John or someone like that, someone who can vaguely do a job as a squad player, and no-one else wants so he's cheap. | | |
blues1 added 11:28 - Jul 18
jon, yes, theres money available now, but not the kind of money we need 2 stand ne chance of signing the quality of player we need. if we want the chopras of this world we need more money 2 get them. as it not seem ne1 wants ne of the 8 players listed, this may b the only answer, im afraid | | |
stinkiusminkius added 11:29 - Jul 18
£10m would be worth having. However, personally I just wouldn't trust keane with that amount of money. He gives me NO confidence that he had even the slightest idea what he's doing. Hang in to Connor, see how we are doing by Xmas. If it's rubbish then keane will be gone and we can sell Connor to give a new GOOD manager some decent funds to put things right. And of course, if we are doing well then it's all well and good with no need to sell. | | |
itfc1981 added 11:34 - Jul 18
bedsitfc yep five new players sounds good but with Keane buying them it would be pointless! will have a new Priskin, Martin, Edwards, etc. we would be no better off. if he has to go, do it next summer. | | |
titanicclown added 11:36 - Jul 18
I'm a bit worried that if Conor does stay that Rk and alot of town fans are going to pin too much hope on the lad. From what I've seen he is a very rough diamond. Strong and powerful so catches the eye but not a great footballer or finisher. I hope he will be a good player for Ipswich but I think we need to have realistic expectations of him, he's only 17 and got a lot of improving to do. | | |
Lightningboy added 11:37 - Jul 18
Marcus ain't going to give Roy more money to waste..simple as that..and to be honest I don't blame him..the fact that last season he gave him £8m or so to spend & absolute zero this summer tells me all I need to know re our chairman's faith in his manager..I think the only reason ME hasn't got rid of RK is because he's got a contract til 2011 otherwise he'd have got shot of him last april. It doesn't matter how much we'd get for Connor - 10,20 or 30 million..you have to ask yourselves..would you trust Keane with that sort of money to spend? Connor needs to stay put for a couple more years and bang in around 30 or 40 goals for us...then just imagine what he'd be worth 2 years from now..who knows,we may even be in the prem by then and in a position to keep him | | |
Lowestoft_Tench added 11:38 - Jul 18
I'm sorry but they can stick it, i wouldn't sell him. I would rather keep him and try and get into the premiership which would earn us £60m odd. Then he would sign a new contract and with a season in the premier league under him he would be worth more. If we don't go up then sell him IMO. Personally he is the only reason I renewed this year, the 3 people i go with didn't renew so as a non driver i'm on the train this year. If he is sold for me that's it, it'll save on the train fare. | | |
bedsitfc added 11:40 - Jul 18
ITFC1981 - or he could buy more of the delaney, leadbitter, colback, b. murphy, o'connor. lets not hold 3 poor signing against him forever as one or two may turn good and even the likes of fergie, harry and josie have all made bad signings | | |
osborne1nil added 11:42 - Jul 18
stinkius, you beat me to it. £10M would be a good price but going on the players that RK has purchased so far and his lack of scouting network I wouldn't trust him to spend that money well. Apparently Town already have the money to buy players with a deal for Chopra already done and falling short on personal terms - not long enough contract or insufficient pay on offer? Selling the only decent goal scoring prospect that Ipswich have at the moment could be a disaster. I can recall plenty of seasons where Town were scoring plenty of goals with a poor defence but still winning. Last season our scoring record was p##s poor and early on until settled the defence was too. Now with Delaney injured we have unknown ability to play together in defence, lots of players in midfield (some good and some poor) and a serious lack of firepower up front. Selling Connor without at least 2 proven quality goal scorers deals agreed could very costly to Towns Championship position. I don't think we can rely on Priskin to suddenly find form and Walters is not the player the last couple of seasons that he was prior. | | |
osborne1nil added 11:52 - Jul 18
bedsitfc, agree not to judge RK by all the rubbish he has bought alone but I am not so sold on your opinion of quality players. Agree Delaney was a good deal but it was already lined up by Magilton before he left. Leadbitter was good but admit to being worried by his end of season form. Colback was a LOAN deal (but a good player). B Murphy could turn out to be a good keeper but IMO the jury is still out and O'Connor is a decent player but he asked ITFC for a trial and was not scouted by RK. IMO more poor signings than good and alot of money spent with little to show. | | |
itfc1981 added 12:14 - Jul 18
bedsitfc, please dont apply to be our scout! | | |
tom_the_blue added 12:15 - Jul 18
I believe is that Keane may worry that he needs 5 new players to match the expectations that most fans demand, and the only way to afford them is to sell Wickham. However, I'd rather have new players worth £2M each and also Chopra, who may also outscore Wickham this season, then place all our expectation on Connor. | | |
bedsitfc added 12:16 - Jul 18
osbourne - magic didnt line up delaney deal, he turned us down. colback was a loan but who brought him here? o'connor agent asked us to take him on trial along with other clubs, who took the chance on him? again b murphy playing in eire other clubs looked who took the chance? and i believe he will be the best keeper we have had since wrightys first contract. | | |
JetaimePeters added 13:32 - Jul 18
If we sell Wickham at 17 years old I'm buying a surfboard and sacking footy off! What a shittu sport this is becoming! | | |
wellhungphil added 14:00 - Jul 18
Some maths: < 40,000,000 quid = theft Sure, wellhungphil is delirious and needs to get a life. However the mad also have reason, albeit rarely. I feel quite lucid now! | | |
osborne1nil added 14:01 - Jul 18
The point is bedsitfc - I wouldn't (and it looks like ME doesn't either) trust RK to spend money from Wickham sale very effectively. If you listed all the players who have been brought in very few have been up to the job so far. I hope you are correct about Murphy coming good, but at the moment I don't see him being as good as Alexandra for a start, let alone Sereni (to$$er) or maybe even Craig Forrest and in many fans eyes Wrighty was still number 1 keeper. Agree with itfc 1981, don't apply to be our scout even though we are in dire need as players who aren't Irish or played for Sunderland appear to be of the radar! | | |
ChambersM added 14:07 - Jul 18
people have to remember although ten mill is enough to buy quite a few new players there is no guarentee that it will get us the right players and good enough players and going on what keane does in the market its not that promising. Not like playing fifa when you have the money so therefore you have the players you actually have to go out nd buy them | | |
StowTractorBoy added 14:13 - Jul 18
If you were a business man and looking at the state of ITFC at the moment you would take £10M for a 17 year old who has yet to prove himself. With the £10M there will be add ons I am sure and if you think of the Bowditch's and Clarkes of the world who were going to be stars and failed to progress then I would take the money. Connor is still very raw and he alone will not decide whether we stay up or not as he will probably play only two thirds of the games anyway. Don't get me wrong I want him to stay but I think we will still be a bottom six side even if he does. We are in a mess make no mistake and it makes it worse when that lot up the road who have supposedly little money are on the crest of a wave in all areas and buying players left right and centre. Not looking forward to the season at all. | | |
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