Academy recruitment officer Malcolm Moore says it was a six-goal starring performance which first alerted him to former Blues’ frontman Connor Wickham’s exceptional talent. The 18-year-old, who left Portman Road for Sunderland last week for an initial £8.1 million rising to £12 million, was a member of Reading’s academy at the time, learning the game under current Swansea City boss Brendan Rodgers.
Moore told TWTD: "I first saw him playing against our U11s for Reading when Brendan Rodgers was in charge of their academy. The score was about 8-5 or something like that to Reading and he scored about six of them.
"You knew that he could do something - you knew he could score goals! It was a matter of developing him and continually improving him. You had an inkling that he was good even then.”
Moore, the man who previously brought England striker Darren Bent to Playford Road, says he even made a cheeky enquiry to Rodgers, which he didn’t expect to be a success: "My quote to Brendan was ‘if that player ever becomes available, please make sure you give me the first call!'.
"And then later on, because of the situation of his father being relocated by the army from Aldershot to Colchester, and with me knowing Brendan quite well, he picked the phone up and said, ‘I’ve got Mr Wickham here and I think Ipswich would be the ideal club for Connor’.
"I invited them down and I think Connor and his parents made their decision very quickly because they liked what they saw here, and everything just moved on from there.”
Despite his undoubted talent, Moore says it took hard graft to get to where he is now: "He had his ups and downs as he progressed through. He slowed down a little bit for a while, then he worked very, very hard and he deserves what he now has.
"When a player comes through like that you’d like to see them play for Ipswich in the Premier League, but sometimes that isn’t the situation. Obviously, when you get a financial offer like that on the table the club has to think very hard.
"We’ve done our bit in the academy. We’ve recruited the player, spent time with him and now there’s been a big reward for the club, and hopefully that money will help the manager to get some players in. The same thing happened with Darren Bent and others.”
Moore says it’s pleasing for him to see someone develop all the way through the system: "It’s nice to know that I’ve got players for the club and that there’s been a big positive end to it — Connor’s going to have a great career, he deserves everything he gets because he’s worked hard, and hopefully the money will enable Paul Jewell to meet the club’s goals.”