Chief executive Simon Clegg has revealed that Connor Wickham has a pre-contract agreement with the Blues. The 16-year-old can’t sign a professional deal with Town until his 17th birthday on March 31st and is a reported target of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and other Premier League clubs.

Clegg told TWTD that he has held talks with the England U17 international, his agent and his father and that he has been encouraged by those meetings: “I think that Connor recognises that he has a good future at this club: he’s still only 16 years old, he’s playing first team football and perhaps it’s better to be a large fish in a slightly smaller pond rather than a small fish in a huge pond.

“He’s still learning his trade, he’s a gifted individual with huge potential and the issue is how he and his advisors see that potential being fully exploited.

“But it’s not done until the signature is on the piece of paper. That can’t be until March 31st, so there is a waiting game here.”

Clegg says Wickham has previously put pen to paper on an agreement which states his intention to sign a professional deal when he turns 17: “We have a pre-contract agreement with him, but that’s not legally binding for someone operating under a scholarship arrangement.”

If Wickham were to break this arrangement and join another club, Clegg says he would expect the Blues to receive a larger settlement than would otherwise be the case: “The compensation would be higher than if we didn’t have the pre-contract agreement, but don’t try and quantify that because it would have to go to an FA tribunal. They would look at a whole range of issues and there is no set formula which would dictate what level of compensation we would get as a result.”

However, Clegg, who says he has had no contact from any other club regarding the frontman, expects Wickham to honour the earlier agreement: “We remain confident that Connor sees his imminent future at this football club and we’re excited by that and we’re working to that particular goal.”

Wickham became Town’s youngest ever first team player when he made his debut as a sub in last season’s home game against Doncaster. He scored his first senior goals in the Carling Cup tie at Shrewsbury and has now made three starts and nine sub appearances for the first team.

Photo: Action Images

peterleeblue added 06:45 - Dec 17 This is excatly the reason why teams like Ipswich will rarely or never feature regularly at the top level. In years gone by a team could be developed from a youth team set up nowadays they simply just need to make their debut and score a goal and they are courted by all the top teams and simply stuck in their reserves or worse still sent out on loan as work horses for the kick and huff of the lower leagues. It is situations like this and the alarmingly early loss of players like Darren Ambrose that have me doubting my investment of time and money into football.

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bjc added 07:05 - Dec 17 correct big money has made british football boring/predictable maybe the fa should look at capping bigspending clubs. i suppose then the good players would p..s off to europe but it would really improve lower leagues
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SomershamBlue added 08:18 - Dec 17 Saturday's match was neither boring or predictable.
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Billy_Whizz added 08:24 - Dec 17 I think we are keeping his appearances to a minimum at the moment to hide him away from the Big Boys - we really don't need Connor being prized away and it won't do his game any good being stuck in Chelsea/Arsenal etc reserves for 3-4 years. Hopefully he'll stick around and maybe - just maybe - Town can match his expectations and get back to the big time.
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Surco72 added 08:42 - Dec 17 I agree big money in the premiership has made the league and champions league very predictable the same as it did in Scotland for many seasons ,hopefully Villa and Spurs can break it up a bit this year.Capping salaries and squad sizes would help this a lot but can not see it happening as TV money has too much influence. I believe Wickham will stay and prove himself for a few seasons at least

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Keaneish added 09:25 - Dec 17 In Ozzy Rules they cap the transfer spends. The higher the team finishes that season the less they can spend the following season. The teams who finisher lower in the league are allowed to spend a higher amount. Personally, although this wouldn't help us with Wickham, it does make the league more competitive from season to season. Anyone else agree with this?
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bluepeter added 09:26 - Dec 17 agree billy
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naa added 10:39 - Dec 17 American football have the draft system to try to balance teams out too. But there's no way anything like this would ever happen in football. By the nature of the democracy in place in the Premier league the top teams would have to agree to it. And all they'll get out of it is less guarantee of success and less money. They'd never agree. When football became a business it died as a proper spectator sport. Despite what Sky may claim.

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byebyesheepshanks added 11:16 - Dec 17 If we were doing it to a smaller club or an overseas club you wouldn't give a damn.
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pitseablue added 11:32 - Dec 17 Sad but very true byebyesheepshanks
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AJblue added 11:50 - Dec 17 I am sorry but i cannot agrre with the statement that British football is boring/predictable. And judging by the fanatacism of football fans, and rising gates all over, it seems neither do the vast majority. If of course you find watching the game boring, you have the freedom of choice not too bother, but then i would not expect you to come on here and leave an opinion, as an ill-informed fool....but that does not seem to have stopped you before!!! If you were to cap transfers in the UK, no other country would follow suit, and all our quality would go abroad. What we ALL have to face up to is that football is now a business, and is runa s such. We can realise that that is the case, and get on with following the game we love, or go find something else to do with our time.

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Karlosfandangal added 12:11 - Dec 17 I have read the post on most of the stories on here and it seems to me that most of the people on here just want to knock the club. When Magilton was in charge it was all about the crap signings he made (ie Walters Norris McAudley Lucio Bruce Wright etc) Yet Keane has signed some great sinigings(ie Martin Healy Priskin Edwards) Last year R Wight was a god now we have all the people saying his crap was of time. Delaney McAudley waste of money should not pay for the club and now they are the best thing since sliced bread. Naylor Miller all took stick from the so called fans yet they played hunderds of time for the club and scored 40 odd goals each and played under several different managers so they must have had something. Magilton has a better record than Keane but he was crap(the so called fans words not mine) so what does that make Keane? In my view given time Magilton would have come good but its obvious that Mister Evens want a return for his money (who can blame him) Keane will also come good as results show at the moment lets hope he is given time as a new manager coming in will do the same as Keane has done. Garvan was rubbish and Keane was knocked for not playing him yet he now has a new lease of life (Good management or just lucky) Town will be in the prem at some point but it will take time might not be this year or even next as teams coming down have more prize money than Evans has to give to us. Newcastle lost some big name and yet they are a cut above the rest of this league as are W.B.A. When we go up it will be hard to stay up even with Mr Evans money. I feel we will become a Hull or W.B.A. Massive step. Lets get behind the team and enjoy the football at Portman road. I can remember being at P[ortman road on a cold wet November night when we lost 2-0 at home to Stockport Co there was only 8000 of us there yet when we go promoted there was 28000 there to watch and now we are down to 19000, where are the so called fans now? I do a 250 mile round trip to watch the town play and i have been to 6 match a portman road so far this year and ove half of the home games last year. Come on get behind the team , Keane and Co. Play Off here we come

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LincsBluebelly added 12:20 - Dec 17 Spot on injuredanimal. And for peterleeblue...the reason we had to sell Ambrose was because we had gone in to administration and, had we not sold him to Newcastle, we wouldn't have been able to pay any of the staff's salaries.
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Surco72 added 13:01 - Dec 17 Injured no one was saying all British football is boring just the top level and the big money spenders ,only Newcastle and Leeds have broken into the top four in last 12 years and gone into Champions league? Only three teams have won the prem in that time . The FA Cup has only come out of the Big Four 3 times since 1989 . Only Chelsea or Man Utd will win the premiership this year but hopefully others might get into the top four. I have taken my daughter to watch 3 Chelsea games this season when Town have not been playing and the game was entertaining with great players but not exciting as Chelsea were always in control and at no time were they going to lose the game . It comes to something when Wolves do not even put a side out at Man Utd to save on injuries even they know how predictable the result will be . As for the Championship it is a very exciting league as anyone seems to be able to beat anyone which is great viewing and great excitement as you never know what you will get ,but if football is not changed our big guns will be competing in Europe but we may lose a lot of small teams and even leagues along the way ?

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corshamblue added 13:26 - Dec 17 Big Fan of Connor, no fear in the 16yo - Hope he stays for a while. Word of Warning to the wise? I remember Dean Bowditch being the next big thing, hyped up by Sky and others for individual performances . . . Sometimes it is better to get what you can when you can? How many times did we read about big clubs wanting Danny Haynes? 400k to Bristol City hardly top dollar or Big Clug!!

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AJblue added 13:56 - Dec 17 Sorry surco, but if you read what bjc has written, it is British football in general, and my diatribe was aimed at him. You do not have to preach to me how good the championship is, i know. I find ALL football exciting, i try to watch as much as i can, all leagues, all countries.... and it is this that i base my argument on...British football is the best in the world,and no, i dont work for Sky!!! As for only a limited nu,ber of clubs able to win the Premiership, yes you are right, but these clubs have one thing in common, and its not just wealthy owners, they have a massive fan base, that are passionate about their team and wont have a bad word said about said team....perhaps we could learn something from that?

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Surco72 added 14:19 - Dec 17 Injured i agree with what you say about support but even the big four supporters question their clubs when things are not going well look at Liverpool at the moment ,Arsenal fans last season it doesnt make them any less supporters . And success brings about massive fan base ,i recall going to Stamford Bridge for a Simod cup game and there was only about 10,000 there (which we lost on penalties !!) ,there huge following has come from money and winning . Leeds, Newcastle ,Sunderland have massive fan base but nowhere near the money to spend where are they ? And Newcastle fans even threatened there chairman and Wise to stop them attending games last season how passionate is that ?

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superblueflude added 15:17 - Dec 17 Hi All, just a thought do you think maybe this pre-contract talk could actually be made up and that we're only saying this to scare clubs off with possibly compensation?
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tom_the_blue added 20:04 - Dec 17 very, very good news if this is true it shows that along with being a player with bags of ability and potential, he has a wise head on his shoulders. I'm sure that the majority of 16 year olds given the opportunity would jump to join a big side rather than continue their football education at a lower league side. lets hope he can bag a few and cement a place in the team this season and fire us to the premier league COYB, FTNS, Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeano

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WickedBlue added 20:17 - Dec 17 Of course football has become predicible ever since we have got the Premier League. It doesn't take take a rocket scientist to know that every major trophy in this country will be won by one of five clubs every single year. I see we like to have a go at scottish football for everything being won by one of two clubs how are we that much differant?
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