Town boss Paul Jewell is said to want Liverpool youngsters such as midfielder Jonjo Shelvey as part of a deal to sell striker Connor Wickham, according to a tabloid report this morning. However, the Reds face competition from Sunderland, who were linked with a move for the 18-year-old yesterday.

The Black Cats are said to have made an £8 million offer for Wickham, which would eventually rise to £12 million on the usual appearance and achievement clauses.

Liverpool were previously reported to have made a bid at the same level but this is now said not to be the case, although an offer from the Merseysiders appears to be very much on the cards.

Blues manager Jewell, a Liverpool player as a youngster, is said to be willing to do a deal for Wickham and is believed to be keen on bringing some of his former club's current younger players to Portman Road if the Hereford-born frontman ends up at Anfield, including midfielder Jonjo Shelvey on loan for the season.

England U19 international Shelvey, 19, joined Liverpool from Charlton for an initial £1.7 million in April 2010 and since then has made four Carling Cup starts plus 15 sub appearances in the Premier League and a further two games from the bench in other cup competitions.

The 6ft tall Romford-born player was previously linked with Town in July 2009 when with the Addicks.

Wickham himself would appear more likely to join Liverpool, the team he supported as a boy, than Sunderland with Jewell saying in March that the England U21 international would only be interested in moving to one of the Premier League’s bigger clubs.

Wickham signed a contract tying him to the Blues until 2014 earlier in the year but with that deal believed to include a clause which would mean the one-time Reading academy schoolboy would be allowed to talk to clubs if an offer came in at a set level understood to be somewhere around the £10 million to £15 million mark.

Having suffered a minor ankle knock in training with the England U21s in Denmark on Thursday which saw him miss Friday's session as a precaution, Wickham will be hoping to win his fourth cap at that level on Sunday when Stuart Pearce’s side take on Spain in their opening group game in Viborg (Sky Sports One/HD1 4.30pm).

The English youngsters, of whom Wickham is the most junior and the only outfield player from a Championship club, subsequently face Ukraine next Wednesday and the Czech Republic on the following Sunday.

Photo: Action Images

TractorCam added 12:30 - Jun 11 10 million + Jonjo Shelvey permanent would be more like it. 10 million + Wickham back on loan will do. 15 million 10 million + Joe Cole, nice and ambitious :P
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hamster153 added 12:39 - Jun 11 I dont want him to go anywhere!!!! Dont care for how much. As soon as we get a decent player we always sell. Hopefully not this time!
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foster added 12:39 - Jun 11 hes got to be worth at least 16 mill if henderson and that guy are than he should be i think now its just about who to replace him with because hes deffo going to go 15 mill and a couple of youngsters would be great . use the money to bring in bullard, sharp,evans,copppinger,st ledger,cresswell,chimbonda,a left mid,whittaker from cardiffand the iclantic guy cant spell his name

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blues1 added 13:43 - Jun 11 while id love wickham to stay lets be realistic here. if we turn down any offer over £8m we may just regret it. sure, if he was to have a great season then hed be worth a lot more, but equally, if he doesnt, & with 1 year less left on his contract, his valuation would plummet. & lets remember, at moment he just a promising youngster, & while i dont think he will, he could easily end up like others of our youngsters such as bowditch, garvan, going nowhere, so it may be best to cash in while the money is there. then at least wed have the cash to bring in replacements

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s6blue added 13:46 - Jun 11 I agree with most -- anything over 10 mill plus Shelvey on loan is good business. 10 mill can go a long way if the right players are identified
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blues1 added 13:46 - Jun 11 oh, & tothose of you comparing his value with henderson, jones, just remember theyve both been playing in pl, wickham(partly down to injury admittedly) hasnt even played a full season at championship level, so their values cannot be compared.
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blues1 added 13:48 - Jun 11 oh, & foster, u cant spell whittingham neither. lol
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blueblood66 added 14:05 - Jun 11 Almost resigned to losing Connor this summer, pity we the fans of the club that developed him won't see him reach his full potential before the vultures swoop.
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broomfield123 added 14:16 - Jun 11 what total drose. why in gods name is everybody saying getting rid of mr wickham.Seem to remember peaple moaning and still are moaning about getting rid of jordan rohoeds however you spell it.Lets just enjoy him and watch him grow into a good player at ipswich instead of watching him on sky sports playing and being successful somwhere else.When wasthe last time we had a youngster stay for a good few succesful years

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blues1 added 14:51 - Jun 11 dont totally disagree with you broomfield, but then, other than bent, whens the last time we had aplayer actually make it? & theres the prob. wickham could be another in the long line of promising youngsters who never go on to get to the top. while i think he prob will make it, it would be a risk for itfc to turn down any offer above the £8m mark, because if he doesnt improve then his value would diminish. also, remember when dyer was sold, many said that was a bad thing for us, but selling him ultimately enabled us to buy the players that saw us promoted the very next season. & no, im not saying i want him to go, just that selling could be the right thing for itfc

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tractorboybig added 15:13 - Jun 11 8 million and a couple of loanees for theseason with no recall clause would appear to be an ideal solution, provided the loanees cover the position we have had problems with for years.
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Guthrum added 18:55 - Jun 11 How about Pacheco?
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broomfield123 added 19:51 - Jun 11 blues1 its nice when fans can start a constructive conversation.I guess the big question would be rhodes as mentioned.I appriciate that we cant dwell on this guy but given the chance both ipswich and the player gain ( whoever the player is) and its a win win situation. Surely ipswich employe these guys who can see s special talent at various levels of their footballing career. As a fan of ipswich and a good youth system it would be nice to be able to appriciate the the respective player playing for us to enjoying.Now we have Wickham lets enjoy watching his talents as an ipswich player. Like any good ipswichfan i enjoy any player whoever he plays for. But we have a diamond so lets not sell him up the Mersey,Thames,Tyne or wherever to early

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LancsBlue added 20:40 - Jun 11 Wickham has potential. We need to rebuild NOW. If we can get £10m now plus good add-ons, sell-ons etc. we will continue to benefit from his future development as well as generate money now to strengthen the team as a whole. We then need to set this against the possibility that if we keep him and he does not fulfil his potential his future value will fall. Its 'Deal or No Deal' I say if there's guaranteed good money on the table it would be folly not to take it. That money would go an awful long way in the Championship. One player does not make a team, five or six might do.

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AndyStannard added 20:44 - Jun 11 please please sell for 12 mil then we can get 4-5 quality players instead of one youngster with a promising future
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broomfield123 added 22:37 - Jun 11 how about darren pratley whos been relesed from swansea.he was great when played us last season
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Lightningboy added 22:38 - Jun 11 If we can get £12-15M and use that to bring in 5 or 6 decent players then great but personally i'd rather keep hold of Connor and offload scotland & priskin..I don't think he'll have much of an impact at liverpool next season anyhow tbh..he'll be better off staying put for at least one more year here..if he bangs in 20 goals next season then he'll be worth £20M+ this time next year.

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CGH added 23:11 - Jun 11 Very bad deal if we had to pay some of his wages. His brother plays football against my uncle's team and Shelvey turned up in a brand new BMW. Allegedly on about £25,000+ a week!
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blues1 added 23:37 - Jun 11 broomfield. agree with you about that, but when is too early? maybe it is now, but then again if he has a bad season it may be too late this time next year. lightningboy, again agree with you, if he scores 20+ goals next season he could well be worth over £20m, however if he plays badly, only scores a say 4 or 5 goals, he prob only be worth about £2-3 million, with ! year less left on his contract. as has been said, 1 player does not make a team. the money we could get for him now, could buy 3 or 4 quality players that may help us get promoted.

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Tractorboy24 added 00:04 - Jun 12 I think people are being harsh on connor, he's only just turned 18 but yet has been one of our top strikers in the last 2 years! Yes, every player has a price, but 1 year less on a contract to 2014 wont drop his value, also if oxalade-chamberlaine is worth 12m playing in league 1, connor is worth more than that, surely?
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austractor added 06:03 - Jun 12 Jonjo sheleh would not accept a permanent move here, nor would pool offer it. Connor for 10 is great, 8 would not be a good deal at all.
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austractor added 06:04 - Jun 12 *shelvey!
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broomfield123 added 08:03 - Jun 12 If we get rid of our main assist what message does it show to other good potential signings regarding our ambition and getting promoted
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broomfield123 added 08:04 - Jun 12 If we get rid of our main assist what message does it show to other good potential signings regarding our ambition and getting promoted
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blues1 added 08:18 - Jun 12 tractorboy, dont think anyone is being harsh on connor at all. every1 knows that he has potential,but that is all it is at the moment. dean bowditch had similar potential at this age & look where he is now. so anything above £8m would be a good price. broomfield, dont think youll find that any player is goona be put off signing for us because we sell an 18 year old kid, plus as ive said in here before ,remember k. dyer. we sold him, & bought 4 players with the money from his transfer, that got us promoted.

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