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

hucks216 added 09:14 - Jun 28 I would much rather have the whole money up front as we have seen plenty of times in the past clubs dropping or selling players when an add-on clause is reached in their contract (or an add-on clause is not met, i.e. Bent playing for England in a competitive match while with Charlton) but I suppose at the end of the day Wickham was always going to be sold at some point and £9m+ can go a decent way to rebuilding the team. After all as has already been said, as good as Wickham is one player doesn't make a team and whatever funds are released to PJ he has already proven that he has a knack of getting good players at not ridiculous prices.

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oldtimer3 added 09:38 - Jun 28 jimmy bullard? he wont to come here because we cant afford him, we need him to supply ammo to our new strikers he likes playing for us, no need to settle in up and running, for the new season. Conner Wickham? big offer from sunderland for a very young player,who is more likely to help Town get promoted. I think Jimmy Bullard. Sell Wickam then we can afford to buy jimmy hey i love watching him he is class!

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saffronblue added 09:43 - Jun 28 Whats all the excitement about, players come and players go, at least we are making money on this one unlike Norris and McCauley. CW was never likely to stay and is still unproven even at Championship level. Take the cash and invest in a few new players, lets not delude ourselves that we are anything more than than a reasonable championship side. PJ has already brought in Chops as our 20+ striker, get in a Centre half and a good midfielder or 2 and we are almost there. PJ will see us right. COYB

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CambridgeBlue added 09:47 - Jun 28 I'd snap your arm off for £13m for an 18yo striker who has scored 13 goals in 65 appearances. Undoubtedly has a great deal of potential, but how often do you hear of ANY Championship player going for £13m? That's a lot of money to any club. Can't blame the powers that be at Town for accepting that. And I can't see there being a bidding war. Once the club has accepted an offer, the other teams don't need to offer any more - the bidding war may be over personal terms, but that makes no odds to us.

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WorcesterBlue added 09:51 - Jun 28 Hate to see him go but agree with people that at the right price (anything near £10 million) we'd be mugs not to take it ...not so sure Connor will agree though and can see him deciding the stay put as unlike the other U21 flash harry forwards, he seems to have a bit of nouse. What does worry me is the overall rebuilding / transfer policy and whether the money would be used wisely - no sign of us looking abroad (Holland) for good value signings, no success in attracting young talent from lower leagues and though Chopra, Ingermarsson and Ellington are Ok signings we will need more quality than that. I just hope PJ has been quietly doing his business under the radar and a few rabbits will be pulled from the hat in the next week or two.

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pgc added 09:54 - Jun 28 you've gotta be kidding! we need to hold onto him for at least this coming season. If he has a good season his value is only going to go up. Why would he want to join Sunderland anyway?
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SouperJim added 10:00 - Jun 28 I doubt he'll agree to sign for Sunderland. Just setting the ballpark figure for Liverpool I think. He's as good as a red folks, whether you like it or not, we can not afford to turn down this kind of money for a young unproven player, regardless of his potential.
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Royalblue added 10:16 - Jun 28 It looks like the bid has been accepted but EADT say the initial payment is £5m while Phil you have got it at £9m. Any clarity on this? £5m would probably get us sharp and coppinger with change left but I'd still much rather have Wickham!
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ITFC1812 added 10:17 - Jun 28 Big fish small pond, stay Connor, stay! At the moment seems hard to spend the cash anyway if we can't attract players from Tranmere and Preston. PJs talked of targets he's kept off the radar so hopefully surprises in store over next week or so. Clegg take a leaf out of John Ryan's book and tell Sunderland to do one!
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sotd78 added 10:24 - Jun 28 Hmmm? £13 million now - build a "team" or wait a year and may be get £18 million. But what if he does a cruciate ligament? What price Civelli now? Take the money or spin the wheel? Hmmm?
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cornishnick added 10:29 - Jun 28 Fair enough if PJ actually gets to spend the cash. Means we'll have to go back in the market for another striker more of the Billy Sharp calibre than Nathan Ellington calibre
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B1TFC added 10:40 - Jun 28 If we know we are going to get the money, bid for other players before Connor is sold, preventin the in inevitable inflation on prices post selling wickham
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nitroblue1970 added 10:44 - Jun 28 Well we all knew prem clubs would be sniffing around our prize assett, but its not an assett if your not prepared to sell it is it? Look lets face the facts, connor, although he has a hell of a lot of potential, has hardly set the goal scoring charts alight in the last 2 years has he?...what is it less than 20 goals in 2 years in the first team? Im not saying the lad isnt talented but what club would pay that sort of money for a player who has scored so few goals?????

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bagofpants added 10:49 - Jun 28 Don't want him to go and would hope for more given the speed of his progress, but I reckon Sunderland would suit him and his development better than a bigger team. As good as he is, he's only on the bench for the bigger teams and that won't help him develop.
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blueherts added 10:50 - Jun 28 Quel Surprise !!! We got him to sign an extended contract and part of that would have been a clause when and if we were offered a set amount he can talk to people ... As many have said this is ALOT of money for an 'unproven' , potential signing - I think if Liverpool watched the U21s they might be thinking of that for Henderson- It is crazy how much money young English players can command - with this money I have total faith in PJ etc to find us afew suitable players in the 'need' areas ... I am very confident for new season ... He will go soon so lets get as much as possible now ... I am sure he will do well at Sunderland or wherever he ends up and good luck to him ....

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blueherts added 10:52 - Jun 28 Remember John Bostock ?
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byebyesheepshanks added 11:00 - Jun 28 Sell unproven but lots of potential CW for £13m. Buy back proven & goalscoring Rohodes for £2m. A sensational bit of business.
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Royalblue added 11:01 - Jun 28 Sky Sports now reporting that no fee agreed but discussions have opened - I think that's probably on the money. Fingers crossed we can get Colback in as part of the deal
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itfc1878 added 11:02 - Jun 28 very sad news:( was hoping he'd stay atleast another season:(
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blueherts added 11:08 - Jun 28 Good shout re Colback , what about that lad at the back Bumble (GT memories of him!!).. Noble be good up front though - Ferdinand??!!!
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ITFC4daprem added 11:16 - Jun 28 would we get him back onb loan could get Gio with the money still 12 mmil i think with 8 mil add ons
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whoppit added 12:32 - Jun 28 Great news. Wickham has potential only and no way is he worth such an inflated price. But, if bigger clubs like Sunderland are going to fork out that much for him, that is the going rate and it's obviously good for us. Invest in the team please !!!!! I personally believe that Wickham will be washed up and sold for peanuts at a later date to someone like Doncaster Rovers. What is it? 15 goals in 65 games or something. I think Jason Scotland has a better record and he is only worth 13p

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jas0999 added 17:35 - Jun 28 In fairness, as we are only a Championship club, I can fully understand why ITFC may cash in on their one and only asset. That said I would be disappointed and we MUST replace Wickham if he leaves. I assumed Chopra had been brought in to strenthen and increase our striker-force to 4 senior strikers. Ellington MAY be a decent replacement for Scotland (if as expected he leaves) - but is under no circumstances a good enough replacement for Wickham. If we lose Scotland/Wickham - and only bring in Ellington/Chopra - for me we are worse off! In response to the poster still on about Rhodes; please can we move on? Two years ago, both Rhodes and Wickham were rookies, untried at this level. Since then Rhodes was sold for £850k - scored lots of goals at DIVISION 1 level and is now rumoured to be worth £1.5M (as still not tried at our level). Wickham on the other hand is scoring goals (some spectacular) at CHAMPIONSHIP level - starred for his country at under 17 level and most recently in the full under-21 squad for a European Championship. That is the difference in transfer fee.

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MAVERICK added 19:17 - Jun 28 Sunderland, you can do a lot better my son. I blame Keano !
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Martus added 20:21 - Jun 28 Sky and BBC say its been accepted and he's going for a medical and listen to an ofer . . . . . . . . . . . . ffs
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