Sunderland look likely to have begun the expected summer bidding war for Connor Wickham by offering the Blues an initial £8 million for the 18-year-old striker. Other clubs are almost certain to follow suit with Liverpool, Spurs and the rest of the Premier League’s bigger clubs having been keeping an eye on the Hereford-born frontman since his days in Town's Playford Road academy.

The Black Cats’ offer, the first Town have received for the England U21 international, is understood to include clauses which will take the fee beyond £10 million if achievement and appearance clauses are triggered.

Sunderland have been interested in Wickham for some while, manager Steve Bruce making an audacious but unsuccessful four-man swap offer involving Grant Leadbitter, Carlos Edwards, Dean Whitehead and Daryl Murphy two years ago shortly after his former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane took over at Portman Road.

Even if Town accept the bid, which they would appear certain not to do with so many other parties interested, Wickham is unlikely to join Sunderland with Blues boss Paul Jewell saying in March that one-time Reading academy schoolboy would only be interested in moving to one of the Premier League’s bigger clubs.

The Wearsiders firming up their interest is likely to lead to other clubs following suit with Liverpool, erroneously reported to have made a bid earlier in the month and the side Wickham supported as a boy, probably the favourites to eventually land the striker.

Wickham is contracted to the Blues until 2014 and while Town are not actively looking to sell, it’s believed there is a clause in the youngster’s deal which means he can talk to another club if they make an offer at a set level, believed to be somewhere between £10 million and £15 million.

Photo: Action Images

homer_123 added 23:20 - Jun 21 Make the most of the bidding war...
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MarkITFC added 23:22 - Jun 21 errm dunno what to make of this one , i would like to see him stay and have 1 FULL season with us as he hasnt yet had a full season without injurys !! BUT If we were offerd 12 -15 million for him then he will have to go also to good to turn down as that could be a massive boost in us returning to the premier league !! what we need is a Bidding war , i hope Liverpool come in with 10 mill , tottenham 12 mill .. so on so on !

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Sindre94 added 23:23 - Jun 21 f*** off !! we want you here Con!
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north_stand77 added 23:24 - Jun 21 Noooohhh! Please hang on to him as long as possible. At best, sell with loan back claus for this season We need him here this season on many levels.
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MaySixth added 23:24 - Jun 21 Take it.
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Bridgford added 23:26 - Jun 21 Is this just more paper talk?
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Tillz9 added 23:26 - Jun 21 Think he will leave this summer. Will be gutted to see him leave but with the sort of money that will be on offer I can't see us saying no. Anything with flat fee of 10m plus adds ins and he will be off
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rosseden added 23:28 - Jun 21 one good season in the championship and andy caroll is 'worth' £35m. We were being touted to buy Caroll for £3m a year or two before that. I suspect we will let him go for £15m if it comes, hopefully he'll stay, and either get us up, or go for £30m the following year!
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pazelle added 23:29 - Jun 21 If Connor Wickham leaves whilst he's still a green banana then I hope football absolutely explodes and only Man united are left
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pazelle added 23:30 - Jun 21 If Connor Wickham is just gonna use our academy and not repay us with a full season in the team then I hope he gets an upset tummy and spends 3 years on the toilet
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algarvefan added 23:31 - Jun 21 It's in his best interest as a developing young player to stay with Ipswich for another season. I personally would be very disappointed to see him go.
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LancsBlue added 23:40 - Jun 21 As long as there are add-ons and a sell-on clause that will benefit us from any future development that he may make, then it would be silly not to cash in. If we keep him he could get injured or simply fail to develop and his value would fall. The money could be used to bring in new players to strengthen the team as a whole. One player does not make a team but £10m+ would certainly help to build one. A loan back would seem unlikely to me. Who is going to pay that sort of money to not have a player? It seems more likely that a big club would want to gradually give him first team experience through cup matches and coming off the bench in league matches.

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Garv added 23:54 - Jun 21 Is this confirmed Phil? 'Depending on appearances' and whatnot doesn't sound tempting really, who knows how many he would have to make before we made any extra? I don't believe £8m without Wickham would get us much if any further along than we are now. We would have to buy ANOTHER striker (not complaining about Chopra or Ellington mind) who is young and as good or atleast as good a prospect as this guy is, which, today, could be anything! So I say reject as I imagine the club would anyway, only something in the region of £12m upwards and upfront would temp me if I was Paul Jewell.

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stupidbigmouthhead added 23:59 - Jun 21 We should either accept the offer or reject it. If we done anything else it would be silly.
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hollywoodginge added 00:10 - Jun 22 liverpool, £10 mil and a season long loan back would represent good business, I just couldnt see him leaving under other circumstances, I genuinely believe he is a level headed lad and knows he is best off here to develop at the very least for another season. I expect fully that with all of the hype he will be the subject of bids but it doesnt mean he will leave at all. Its a bit like deal or no deal for us though in many ways, do we take the bankers offer or play on with the chance of getting more later but at the risk of losing out heavily if his potential just doesnt blossom. As much as my heart wants Connor to stay, my head wont let me forget what selling Dyer did for us (promotion). I will back what ever the club and connor decide is best as we only stand to win what ever happens.

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footyblue added 00:14 - Jun 22 Liverpool it is then
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riley26 added 00:33 - Jun 22 Football head NOT business head please Mr.Evans! Yes this money sounds tempting, we do not need to sell, if the owner is serious about getting the team to the top flight he knows he will need to spend money, but hold on to out assets as long we can. I have much more confidence in Jewell's transfer policy but imagine if we sell Wickham and we spend the money and end up with a load of average players again. Wickham is going to go, but let's get another season out of him and it is very likely that this time next season he will be worth far, far more.

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GiveusaWave added 00:36 - Jun 22 Liverpool- 12 million plus add-ons (England Appearances, Goals etc) and loan him back to us for a year with Jonjo Shelvey also coming to us for a season long loan. If the 12 million is used WISELY on transfers- we could bring in a number of players who could make a huge difference (Coppinger, St Ledger, Jason Pearce, Keiron Westwood, Luke Chadwick, Mathias Kouo-Doumbe) and not bother selling or loaning Jason Scotland. We would still have considerable strength up front (Chopra, Ellington, Priskin, Scotland, Murray and Lavery) would be fine for this division. If we were being ultra extravagant- we could even bring in Zoltan Gera. Can you imagine our team for ONE season (feel this would be make or break time for us to go up) Westwood St Ledger, Pearce, Kouo-Doumbe, Delaney Chadwick, Leadbitter, Gera, Lee Martin Wickham, Chopra reserve Coppinger,Smith, Alan Barrett-Lee, Ellington, Ingimarrson, Healy, Hyam we would have strength in depth with the likes of Scotland, Murray etc ready to step up into the first 11 at any given moment. With a team like that we wouldn't be avoiding relegation next season.

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Tillz9 added 00:39 - Jun 22 I would hope we would be avoiding delegation !
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:43 - Jun 22 at least if he goes to S'land he may get a dozen or so games, if he goes to a top four club he will sit on the bench or be loaned to whichever team they see as their feeder club - i also fear a clause that loans him back to us, as we would be obliged to play him, and let's face it, to date he has hardly been prolific and ended up being pushed out on the left wing - we need to sell him quickly and spend the money carefully if we are to have any realistic chance of making the play-offs

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Sniegster added 01:02 - Jun 22 Mixed feelings about this. I would love him to stay and develop. All the good English youngsters are being snapped up by the big Premier League clubs. Many are set to disappear and languish in their reserves for years. This not only is a waste of talent, but stuffs up the England team for the future. I also agree he has a level head and may have seen and heard of other young players who have left and vanished into obscurity. BUT, if he does go, I think PJ would build an awesome squad from the money received...

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confoosed_dot_com added 01:03 - Jun 22 @Hollwoodginge - summed it up perfectly, particularly the last two comments. Good business if he goes, and a Dyer-esque injection of funds. Happy days if he stays
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churchmans added 01:05 - Jun 22 pure speculation! has not had a full season to warrant 10million +
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churchmans added 01:18 - Jun 22 would love it if he stayed and prove me wrong about his ability! take 10million + if its true? very tempting
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Dolly2.0 added 01:31 - Jun 22 I'm sick of you sell, sell, sell brigade. If you were real football fans, and real Ipswich fans, you'd want us to hang on to our exciting young talent, not flog it off at the first available opportunity. Evans has plenty of money. Why must we always be a selling club? Maybe if we didn't just always sell every half decent player (now we have a wealthy owner and don't have to) we could actually go somewhere. Call me old fashioned but I'd like to see us develop an exciting young prospect, and reap the long term dividends ourselves. What a refreshing change it would be to say 'up yours' to the big boys waving their cash around. Please, ITFC, don't sell.

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