Boss Roy Keane says the Blues are very confident that striker Connor Wickham will sign a professional deal with the club when he is 17 in March. The 16-year-old frontman, unable to put pen to paper on a contract until his 17th birthday, has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs including Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Aston Villa.
Keane said: "We’re very confident. We’re working with Connor every day, we know the type of lad he is and we obviously feel this is the best club for him.
"Connor is playing in our first team at the moment, he’s learning from myself and the good coaches we’ve got here. We’re very confident, he’s a level-headed type of guy and hopefully he believes his future is here.
"We’ve had some very positive talks [with Wickham and his father]. But obviously there are agents involved and we know the way they work, however, we’re confident and I’ve not thought too much about it as there’s only so much we can do.
"He’s got a chance of being a top, top player, but that’s just potential. We’ve all got the potential to be successful, but whether we can follow it through is another thing. Connor’s a good player, he’s a good lad and we’re very lucky to have him at this football club.
"He’s learning his trade and if over the next few days and he wants to better himself and go on to play for a big club, he’ll have time for that. But he’s still learning, he’s 16 years of age.
"You can go to one of these big clubs and get lost because they’re signing everybody. All we have at the moment is potential and my honest opinion is that this is the best place for him.”
Keane says he already has potential signings in his thoughts for January, but says additions coming in will mean others will leave: "I’ve one or two in mind that I’d like to bring to the club. I think every manager will have a wish-list, whether you can get these players or not is another issue.
"We’ve got a lot of players on the books here, so we’ve got to try and balance that as well. If we’re going to get one or two in, one or two will have to go out.”
Keane says he’s still heard nothing from Colchester regarding Kevin Lisbie, who the Blues will recall from his loan in January, despite Aidy Boothroyd saying he has tried to call him and hopes to get hold of him soon to discuss the striker’s future.
However, the Blues boss says that two other clubs have been in touch: "I’ve spoken to another two managers about Kevin Lisbie. They’ve got through to me.”
Keane says the club will start to assess whether to offer players who are out of contract next summer further deals early in the new year: "We’ll be looking at those situations in January.
"Obviously, Arran’s a bit closer [with his deal ending in January] and we’ll look at that over the next few weeks.
"It’s worked out ideally for him because he’s after getting a new deal and he gets a chance in the first team, which is where he is going to be judged. He’s doing himself no harm at the moment and we’re delighted with him.”
Keane says he hopes to complete the signing of 19-year-old American trialist Devann Yao in the course of the next week with compensation due to some of the clubs he was with as a youngster — Metz, Livorno, Pisa and very briefly St Mirren — under FIFA rules: "There’s a few issues with one or two of his previous clubs.
"Giving a contract to somebody is not quite as straightforward as everyone thinks. There are issues with his previous clubs in terms of compensation.
"But we’re hoping that situation will come to a conclusion one way or the other next week.”
The move to sign Senegalese free agent left-back Ibrahima Faye, who impressed in a trial earlier in the season, is also likely to be decided one way or another in the next seven days: "That’s going to be harder as a lot of these deals were going to be to the end of the season and if you’re fighting work permits it’s very, very difficult.
"That’s gone a bit quiet and we’ll probably have more definite news on that next week on that whether it will be a yes or a no.”
Town have no new fitness worries ahead of Saturday’s game with Blackpool, although Lee Martin is considered a doubt with the heel injury which has kept him out of the last two games.