Town boss Roy Keane has revealed that the Blues turned down offers for striker Connor Wickham and a number of other players during the transfer window. The highly-rated England U17 international is closing in on a first team return after the ankle injury he sustained in pre-season training.
Keane says despite the likes of Spurs and Arsenal showing interest in the 17-year-old, Town’s valuation wasn’t met: "The offers or the phone calls weren’t what we believed the player was worth. Connor’s happy here.
"That was a plus and we’ve kept other players for whom we’ve had offers. We’ve turned down offers for a lot of our players.
"We’ve managed to hold on to important players like Connor, that was an important message to the supporters, but that might change in January.
"The club has resisted and rightly so. The offers were very, very big offers and I think that Connor’s got a chance of being a top player.”
The Blues boss says that appreciates that owner Marcus Evans and chief executive Simon Clegg had to allow some other players to move on: "The club will have looked at certain offers for certain players that they feel that we have to accept and that’s the business side of it.
"And I understand that. The owner’s an intelligent man and he knows I have no problem with that. What’s important for me is that I’m always kept in the picture, simple as that.”
The Blues boss says the attention surrounding the Hereford-born frontman isn’t affecting him: "Hopefully he’s got more sense than to take too much notice of people giving him too much credit. He certainly hasn’t changed, he’s not driving a Bentley yet! When he comes in in a Bentley, that’s when I’ll be worried!
"He’s got a good family behind him,” Keane added, "and hopefully he’ll be back involved with us in the next few weeks. He’s been back on the training pitch and it’s given everyone a boost.
"But there are pitfalls ahead of him, as we’ve seen with other young players such as Jack Wilshere over the last few weeks, so he’s got to be careful.”
Keane says Wickham and left-back Mark Kennedy, like Damien Delaney and Luciano Civelli, aren’t far from fitness, although they won’t be involved at Portsmouth on Saturday: "Mark Kennedy and Connor Wickham joined in with training on Monday and Wednesday’s reserve game came a few days too early for them. They’ve trained again today and they’re making good progress.
"Connor trained on Monday for the first time and it’s like he’s never been away. His injury’s fine and what he needs now is a few minutes under his belt.
"We’re pleased with the two boys and it would be nice to have them back in the group, particularly with all the games coming up over the next few weeks. It’s going to be pretty hectic.”
Wickham, Kennedy, Delaney and Civelli are all likely to play in next Wednesday’s reserves game against Colchester at Maldon.