Boss Roy Keane says he doesn’t expect to be given all the proceeds from any players who might be sold in January. Striker Connor Wickham, rated at £10 million, has again been linked with Tottenham and Liverpool in recent days, while a number of other Premier League clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea are believed to have been monitoring the England U21 international.

Keane said: “The club might receive offers for some of our players in January, but whether I get that money remains to be seen.

“It sounds great to say ‘sell one player for X amount and we can bring in three or four’, but it doesn’t work that way because we’ve still got look at the wages we’ve got at the club.

“So, identifying three or four experienced players would be the easy part, it’s getting deals done - which we’ve not managed to do before - that’s the problem.

“We need to be careful that one, that everyone thinks I’ve got £10 million to spend on three or four players or on wages. I don’t think that’s how it’s going to work.”

Speaking at Tuesday’s AGM, chief executive Simon Clegg said that there had so far been no concrete bids for Wickham and that the club wants to hang on to him for as long as possible: “There are no offers on the table for Connor, there is a lot of speculation, a lot of hot air out there. Roy and myself are clear that we’d like to retain him, as indeed is the owner.”

Clegg also made it clear that there would be scope for additions to the squad next month: "Every window that we have gone into we have invested in the playing squad and I don't see that changing in January.

"If the manager wants to bring in players in January then he will have the opportunity to do that."

Photo: Action Images

Sparky85 added 13:04 - Dec 9 Hmm is it just me or does this sound like Wickham might be off in Jan? Selling 1 to get 3-4 players in, and makes reference to the £10m price tag. Very worrying.
0

Marcus added 13:05 - Dec 9 I wonder how true this is. Keane could just be trying to convince some agents to lower wage demands or Evans is keeping a tight wage budget... Or a bit of both?
0

simonsays added 13:05 - Dec 9 This is a disgrace. Keano should be given all of this and more. Evans out. BOO!
0

HighSeasBlue added 13:13 - Dec 9 f he goes then we might as well try and get as much cash as possible out of who ever wants him. 10 mil would probably get us a couple of players, their wages and the ability to try and keep hold of one or two of our better current players.
0

truckertractorboy added 13:14 - Dec 9 It does sound like a deal is done I would take 10 million but if rk dont get the lot what is he going to buy dont get alot for 5 mill these days
0

titanicclown added 13:18 - Dec 9 Get £10 million for Wickham then buy Morrison from Millwall for £3 million - sorted!Evans can have his £7 million and Fallon can go back to Plymouth.
0

JayITFC added 13:23 - Dec 9 Very worrying turn of events - Keane talking like the Wickham sale is a done deal.
0

fifeblue added 13:28 - Dec 9 Why is everyone worried about selling Wickham? He is an unproven teenager. An offer of £10M? Pull their arms off!
0

Back_The_Boss added 13:42 - Dec 9 Indeed. 10 million is a lot of money for a relatively unproven teenage striker.
0

Blue_Square added 13:43 - Dec 9 Great..... Giving Keane the proceeds from a potential Wickham sale...! Same implications of giving my 3 year old son a loaded revolver in his play room... Who have Sunderland ressies got that we can wn*k the whole lot up the wall on...? 5m for Bardsley..>!? Healy back for a mill...? No thanks... Keane Out.
0

Mungo added 13:55 - Dec 9 £10m with add ons would be acceptable in our current situation. The squad needs reinvestment (although I have to admit I'm far from convinced that RK & SC would invest the money sensibly). The benchmark is the Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott deals... I still don't buy RK's argument that he had players lined up to come here but the club courldn't get the deals done. There has to be more to it than that. What sort of salaries were they looking for? What was their injury record like? Where they significantly better than players that we already had? Would prefer permanent signings compared to loans. Far too many loan signings over the past 18 months or so. Loans are intended to supplement the squad, not form the basis of it.

0

Dolly2.0 added 14:10 - Dec 9 Some of you loons don't appear to have read the story and have just concluded in your own head's that Wickham's off. Clegg's quite categorically said that no firm offers have been made so maybe we should take that as face value and not try to read other things into it?!? What's the point of Phil writing these stories if you don't read them properly?
0

Thetruth added 14:18 - Dec 9 If 10 Million is offered then take it, Whickham has been talked up beyond belief, and if clubs are willing to pay 10 Mil for him then for an unproven player, its good business. Be honest, if Whickham was amazing and a future great then this lad should simply be scoring goals at championship level, he dosent do that. He has had chances in the first team, but hitting the net has not happened, if he is a future star then he should be scoring, i personally struggle to rate the guy in 10 mil bracket.

0

Surco72 added 14:19 - Dec 9 Dolly if there has been no interest why is Clegg talking about it and press releasing it to Sky ,and Keane already talking about how the money could be spent .If nothings happened, nothing to say surely why even bother talking about it ? I personally doubt if we will see Wickham kick another ball for Ipswich in anger
0

sonian_blue added 14:24 - Dec 9 £10m, snatch their hand off. Spend a small (relatively) part of it to get ALF down from Rotherham, he is a goal machine. And if he doesnt want to leave Yorkshire then use some of the proceeds to rent him a flat and a motor. We should push the boat out on this.
0

tractorboy2434 added 14:48 - Dec 9 Don't give him any more money for god's sake, we are not going anywhere this season so save it for whoever takes over, in any case he has already identifed his replacement and a deal has been agreed, the mighty Rory Fallon. God help us, how much lower will this club sink !
0

FifeITFC added 14:51 - Dec 9 I agree with my counterpart fifeblue (we are different people), that if we're offered £10m for Wickham we should take it.
0

bluechick added 14:53 - Dec 9 Softening up process for wickhams departure?
0

stinkiusminkius added 15:19 - Dec 9 Please don't let keane waste any more money. We need a good manager in place to spend it wisely. And all this wage talk seems to back up that he's clearly wasted loads on big wages for his signings. But he has bought loads of players from the Prem who would obviously be on good money. He's a waster - get rid now please.
0

brian_a_mul added 15:33 - Dec 9 I would think that any significant cash from player sales will be kept till the summer. When they quote a figure like "£10mil", it is not a direct £10mil. Most transfer fees are staggered out depending on a number of potential targets (games, goals, Int caps, sell on fees etc). Depending on the deal, the ititial sum received may be a fraction of the total price, usualy paid in installments. Personaly I would take "£10mil" if offered for Conor and get a decent right back in. Maybe Fallon has already been lined up as a replacement for Conor for a transfer in Jan if previous reports are anything to go by. Pablo and Lisbie are both on loan and could be recalled if required. Its very unlikely but a posibility none the less.

0

Ipswich24 added 16:00 - Dec 9 The only way I would do this is sell Wickham for ten million and if to Tottenham have Townsend in exchange plus a very good sell on fee and add ons for England caps
0

Suffolk_n_Good added 17:08 - Dec 9 Sell for £10m, Give £5-6m to the new manager.... Simples!!
0

RetroBlue added 17:24 - Dec 9 Oh! I see Roy, so Town ARE going to sell Connor Wickham then !!!
0

Blue_Fred added 17:34 - Dec 9 He might not get the cash because he might not be here.
0

hamster153 added 17:39 - Dec 9 Is it me or are Pablo and Lisbie far better than Fallon??? Though Fallon does remind me of Alan Lee!
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls