Town are reported to have accepted a fee which could eventually total £13 million from Sunderland for striker Connor Wickham. The Black Cats have been making the running for the 18-year-old frontman since becoming the first club to lodge a firm offer for the England U21 international last week.

The fee is said to consist of £9 million up front plus a further £4 million in clauses relating to appearances and achievement.

Town are reported to have given Wickham permission to speak to the Wearsiders regarding personal terms.

Liverpool have also been strongly linked with the Hereford-born striker in recent weeks, but the Reds are yet to make a concrete bid, despite reports to the contrary earlier in the month.

The player himself is believed to favour a move to Anfield, having supported Liverpool as a boy, but Sunderland now appear to be in the driving seat, although Town manager Paul Jewell said in March that the one-time Reading academy schoolboy was only interested in a move to one of the Premier League's bigger clubs.

Spurs and Arsenal, who have also been eyeing Wickham since his days in the Blues' academy, are also yet to show their hand.

Photo: Action Images

renard added 07:49 - Jun 28 IF we were to sell connor, which looks increasingly likely, i'd rather we do it now than in late august. Gives the squad time to settle, jewell time to strengthen and saves us the distraction throughout the summer. I hope he stays, would love to see him one more season for us. But money talks, and town can't magically stop what football's turned into. And no, we're not gonna struggle next season, with or without connor. In jewell we trust! COYB!

0

StavangerBlue added 07:50 - Jun 28 Bad idea to sell him for this small amount. If Andy Carroll is worth £30m+ Wickham is being vastly undersold here. Keep him. A bigger club will come in for him at a later date.
0

bedsitfc added 07:57 - Jun 28 cash in now or later??? could he be another bowditch or garvan. after next season if he dont have a good season his value could fall. hope not but he could suffer a bad injury? simon milton says he is far from the finished article what if he doesn't advance?? he could score 25 goals for us next season but if we dont get promoted he will still be worth £10 million, ok if we get promoted he may jump to £15 million.

0

DidcotBlue added 08:00 - Jun 28 Not Sure about everyone ranting about ME and Clegg, Marcus Evans has invested loads of money into the club and people should be mindful of that before ripping into him, Football is coporate now, if you consider CW as a commodity then we have probably invested £500,00 in him then a 10 fold return on that investment is excellent business, John Wark and Paul Mariner left ITFC when I was 7 and the club is still here, players come and go, we sold Dyer and used proceeds to get promoted, Jewell will do the same, so if it happens accept it and move on...

0

DidcotBlue added 08:01 - Jun 28 corporate even...proof read=tip of the day
0

dundeebloo added 08:05 - Jun 28 A message to all on here this is speculative BS of the highest order A message to Phil stop publishing rubbish like this.We are in a position where we foot need to sell and frankly £9m you have allegedly said is an insult to the player.How much was Jordan Henderson sold for? Over 20m?
0

dundeebloo added 08:10 - Jun 28 Don't
0

dundeebloo added 08:16 - Jun 28 99% of transfer rumours published on here don't happen so Phil stick to the facts and let the star and the eadt print the rubbish
0

dundeebloo added 08:16 - Jun 28 99% of transfer rumours published on here don't happen so Phil stick to the facts and let the star and the eadt print the rubbish
0

dundeebloo added 08:17 - Jun 28 A message to all on here this is speculative BS of the highest order A message to Phil stop publishing rubbish like this.We are in a position where we foot need to sell and frankly £9m you have allegedly said is an insult to the player.How much was Jordan Henderson sold for? Over 20m?
0

Legend added 08:18 - Jun 28 Does this club have any ambition?? Why cant we turn down bids like other clubs? Why cant we keep him here for another season? Connor could be a big big player for us this season and if people think the money we get for him will go into the transfer funds think again! Why cant the club just say "thanks but no thanks, the lad is not for sale this season" Connor is happy here and knows he has time on his hands. Yes i know its a lot of money, blah blah blah, but to me this shows that the owner of this club has no ambition. Keep your prize assets at all cost!

0

bedsitfc added 08:27 - Jun 28 if the clause in his contract has been reached then we have no say in the dealings, so if he goes it will be his choice not the clubs.
0

UsualSuspect added 08:37 - Jun 28 Relegation! Some of you guys are seriousley deludued. Connor hasn't gone anywhere yet, let's wait until PJ's squad is entirely assembled before we start making judgements. Speculation!! that's all it is, none of us on here knows who else will or won't be playing for Town until PJ's transfer dealings are complete.
0

mwhitfc added 08:38 - Jun 28 I don't care how much clubs are willing to pay for him, we should not be selling at this time! How are we going to replace him if we sell him? We want to gain promotion, but if we are going to sell our better players, we will never get to the premier league!
0

alfromcol added 08:42 - Jun 28 Surely he won't go to Sunderland? His parents have more sense than to let him go there?
0

Legend added 08:45 - Jun 28 I agree mwhitfc! If the 9 million went straight into PJ's war chest then yes but he will be lucky to see a million of that money. Ok if the clause has been met then he has to go.....I thought the clause was 11 million? If he goes we will regret it! Ok so Evans will be 9 million better off, but the club will loose fantastic asset who could well be the difference between a top six spot or a boring mid table finish yet again! Like i said, people are saying "Take the money" do they honestly think that PJ will be given the whole 9 million to spend??? It will go straight into Evans big deep pockets to funs a few more packages for next years London 2012.

0

UsualSuspect added 08:48 - Jun 28 alfromcol: doubt it, after all it's just a bus stop in Boro! Although saying that if he's spotted buying tracksuits from Matalan then the writings on the wall.
0

ilovefootie83 added 08:48 - Jun 28 Stay for another year Connor. Get a fall season banging in the goals n getting some more experience. No point going n sitting on the bench Then go next season if u still wish.
0

Moscow_Blue added 08:50 - Jun 28 There are about 3 meaningfull comments on here - and you can all go and read all of the above to work out which ones they are. I haven't seen Connor's current ITFC contract (and suspect that none of you have either), but if we believe what we are told he signed a contract extension with us on the basis that an offer at a certain level would allow him to move on. We added value to the Club by agreeing the contract extension with him, but the cost of that was the sell-on cluase. For goodness sake, this is not in the Club's control, so stop bleating and live in the real world. Of course, I would have loved to see Connor stay and help us get into the Premiership, but it isn't going to happen when he is such a marketable commodity. My only hope now is for a bidding war.

0

SouthernBlueLady added 08:50 - Jun 28 Didn't Kieron Dyer's sale in 1999 provide the funds that got us up the following year? I'll be sorry to see him go but as people have said, 1 player doesn't make a team.
0

delias_cheesy_flaps added 08:52 - Jun 28 Nobody knows what clauses are included within his contract apart from Wickham and his Agent...pure speculation is all we have. If we had any business acumen at all (which I seriously doubt) then sit back and let the bidding war commence! Other clubs can mug Premier teams transfer budgets offloading players but Ipswich seem to think it's not the done thing?
0

johnhazelbum added 08:56 - Jun 28 Unfortunately, even with cash we can't buy the players we are linked with. Considering the major restucturing going on and limits set by ME I can't see us getting to the play-offs. Just look at the competition and the money/parachute payments they have at their disposal. £9m doen't go very far even in the championship.
0

JohnTy added 08:58 - Jun 28 Why do people think there will be a bidding war? Surely all that Liverpool, Spurs or anyone else has to do is match Sunderland's bid and the player and his agent makes the choice.
0

joshberry94 added 09:04 - Jun 28 sell sell sell. this offer is too good to turn down for a striker who is still yet to prove himself at this level. If you compare this to the measly 2.5m we got for darren bent this is a great deal for the club. with this money we could build as team capable of mounting a serious challenge for the title (e.g. Bullard, Nugent etc.) although i would love to see him stay you must admit that this is a great deal for the club and could take us forward in many ways, and there are also a new legion of young players coming through who are showing potential (Whight, Carson) given the fact that Mr. Wickham didnt get a minute in the U 21 championships tells me he is no better than Welbeck or Sturridge, and i dont see any 13m bids floating around for these players... We must seriously consider this offer. i think this is more a positive than a negative for the forthcoming season as long as we use this money for replacements

0

icetruckiller added 09:13 - Jun 28 Would have thought keping Connor for one more season would be benificial for both the club, and Connor himself. A full season in the Championship, playing in his preferred position will obviously do the lad better, rather than keeping the bench warm at a Premiership club. As previously mentioned, we need a big sell-on clause, because if Sunderland do get him, a couple of years later, one of top teams will come in with a huge bid.

0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls