Boss Roy Keane says he doesn’t want to sell Connor Wickham but admits that the club will have to look at any serious offers which come in for the England U21 international striker. At Tuesday’s AGM chief executive Simon Clegg said the Blues were yet to receive a concrete offers for the 17-year-old frontman.
Keane says he’s conscious of the reality of the situation: "Over the years this club has sold a lot of good, young players. That’s the way things are on the financial side of it, particularly now the club has been in the Championship for a number of years.
"If we get offers for any of our players, then the club will have to look at them. It’s the same with any club, particularly Championship clubs. We don’t want to lose good players like Connor, but we live in the real world.”
Keane says the likes of Liverpool, Spurs — where former Town coaches Bryan Klug and Charlie Woods now work — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United ought to be all too aware of what Wickham will be capable of in the career ahead of him: "These big boys would be buying potential, just like when Tottenham bought Gareth Bale and Arsenal bought Theo Walcott. Wayne Rooney had played a lot more first team games at Everton before he went to United.
"If these big teams have done their homework, they’ll know about Connor. A big strong centre-forward, he’s English, got a good head on him and he’s 17 years of age. The boy’s got a chance and, of course, we want to see him mature here over the next year or two, but sometimes that’s taken out of your hands.
"I’ve got a lot of time for Connor. Not just because he’s a good player but because he’s a good kid. And the other clubs will know that. We know one or two staff have left here and gone to other clubs and they’ve obviously been filling them in about Connor.”
The Blues boss, who revealed that Wickham could be involved in next July and August's U20 World Cup which would see him miss the start of the 2011/12 season, says the youngster’s nationality is also something which makes him attractive to the Premier League’s bigger clubs: "Over the next few years there will be rules about the number of English players in a squad. What they’re buying is potential and Connor has a chance of being a top, top player. Hopefully he’ll do that here, but we’ll see.
"We’d like Connor to stay here a bit longer but if one of the big boys comes in — and hopefully it will be one of the big boys because that’s where he deserves to go to fulfil his potential — I’m sure the owner will have a look at it. But it won’t be my decision, unfortunately.”
Keane’s own future continues to be the subject of speculation with his Town terms due to end in the summer, but for the moment he’s concentrating on matters more immediately to hand: "My contract situation is the least of my worries, the priority for us is trying to get a result on Saturday. I’ve said before, football clubs are always about players and supporters, not necessarily about managers.
"If I don’t do the business, and I’m not doing it at the moment, I’ll have to pay the price and that’s life.
"I’ve been very lucky. When I see people like Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and Chris Hughton earlier in the week out of work, I count my blessings.”
Keane says the prospect of a change of boss probably won’t have too much impact on the players who are out of contract at Portman Road, talks having started with several of the 21 who are in that position come the summer: "There are a lot of players at the club who are out of contract, a lot of the younger boys, as well as important players like Gareth McAuley and David Norris and others.
"I think the players first and foremost are focused on doing well for the club and winning matches. The rest will take care of itself and they won’t be too concerned about who’s going to be manager in the summer or next week.
"The players are professional players, they’ve got to get on with the job and focus on winning football matches.”