Boss Roy Keane says he would be lynched by Town supporters if he was to let boy wonder striker Connor Wickham move to Sunderland this summer. Reports emanating from the North-East over the last couple of weeks have claimed that the Black Cats want Wickham to move to Wearside as part of an exchange deal which would see Daryl Murphy, David Healy and/or Jack Colback joining the Blues on a permanent basis.
When the widely reported story was put to Keane by TWTD at his press conference, the Blues boss dismissed it out of hand: "That’s your silliest question of the season! And you’ve had some silly ones!
"I’m pretty sure Connor signed a contract a few weeks ago. I think our club is well run, Connor’s happy here, we’re happy with him and I think I’d be lynched by the supporters if we were talking about selling him.”
Keane says it’s wrong to consider players, particularly youngsters, merely as commodities: "Connor’s learning his trade, he’s doing well and we shouldn’t talk about a young player like Connor as if he’s a piece of meat that we’re going to sell to the highest bidder.
"I think the club’s good like that, I think with the owner we’re well run, we’re under no pressure and Sunderland wouldn’t be able to afford him anyway. They could swap him for 20 of their players and Brucey knows that.”
Keane’s former Manchester United team-mate and close friend Steve Bruce admitted that he was aware of Wickham’s talent and would be interested if he became available, but conceded that plenty of other sides would also be in the hunt.
The Town manager says it’s no surprise that Bruce would know all about the 17-year-old: "If you’re a manager in the Premiership and you’re interested in players, of course you’d be aware of him. If he’s not aware of Connor then he must be living on a different planet, because of the speculation over the last few months before he signed his contract.
"Connor’s got a great chance of being a good player, but he’s still learning his trade. He’s learning it fast, I’ll give him that. The good players do.”
Wickham signed a two-year professional deal with the Blues a fortnight ago, the longest professional contract a player can agree at 17.