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.”

Photo: Action Images

Paulc added 11:56 - Dec 10 Looks like a call to the big boys to put a good offer in to me. Take £8m and loan back to town for 2 years - do me just fine, if he turns out to be that good he'll be off in 2 years anyway and for less money, and if he turns out not to be quite the ticket then we've got the 8 mil, cheers.
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Legend added 12:13 - Dec 10 keep him!
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Help added 12:25 - Dec 10 I know he gets asked these questions, and he always answers them, but is this not an invitation to buy from the club to any premiership team.
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Legend added 12:30 - Dec 10 Keep him, let the lad play 90 mins for several games.
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Oxblue added 12:35 - Dec 10 I have a feeling Keane will be charge next season. If we where to get rid of him now surely the new manager will have a big say in who's contract is renewed? As for Wickham its when not if he goes good luck!! 8 million and plenty of sell on clause would be good buisness. As for the Clegg he is not going to sack not with the Chelsea and Arsenal games just around the corner!! COYB 3 points and something to cheer on Saturday!!

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Sparky85 added 12:36 - Dec 10 Bye Connor!! Shame we wont see the full potential in an Ipswich Shirt
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Mark added 12:47 - Dec 10 The thing that worries me with all this talk of £10M is that if Wickham leaves it will be for an "undisclosed fee" which might in reality be more like £4M with some top-ups. Would we be told the truth about it and would the money be spent on the squad? I understand time is ticking on his contract, and as he isn't doing the business for Ipswich this season there is a good argument for selling him.

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Oxblue added 12:49 - Dec 10 I agree Mark all our transfers seem to be "undisclosed fees"
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FrowsyArmLarry added 12:50 - Dec 10 easy come, easy go eh Mark?
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Mark added 13:03 - Dec 10 > easy come, easy go eh Mark? I didn't say I want Wickham to leave; I want him to stay and do well! He needs to be managed properly, developed and given a fair chance if he stays here though. We also need to think about a new contract, as in the summer he will be into his last year and his value will plummet. My point really want that we should not assume we will get £10M for him or even assume we will be told what the buying club have paid. "Undisclosed fees" make it very hard for fans' to judge the deals. We found out the Rhodes price was £250K to £850K and were rightly unhappy, but if we had assumed it was £3M say we would have been less unhappy.

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whoppit added 13:15 - Dec 10 He has shown nothing this year to be fair. For this, I blame Keane and hopefully the new manager will bring Connor on in the correct way. I think a bid of 4m will see him go in January though........
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FrowsyArmLarry added 13:21 - Dec 10 Mark, I was agreeing with you. Sell him now and get a few quid. Personally I think anything above £3m would be good business
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RetroBlue added 13:27 - Dec 10 well it sounds to me like Marcus Evans is going to cash in on CW, and / or CW is making a big mistake in thinking he will do better at a Premiership Club. Maybe he should have a chat with Richard Wright before he signs for Spurs !!
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RetroBlue added 13:28 - Dec 10 ....in addition . Anyone on here think RK will be given this money from Connor's sale , is very much mistaken I feel. I doubt Town will even get the full fee up front.
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goat_man added 13:46 - Dec 10 What a total waste, were going to sell him before he was even given a chance to really play for us. Well done Keane for leaving him on the bench all this time!
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SouperJim added 13:56 - Dec 10 Retro, what would Richard Wright know about being a young player at Spurs? Surely Connor should talk to Townsend and Livermore first? The scariest thing about this article is the reminder that Bryan Klug and Charlie Woods, two excellent well respected coaches we got rid of, are now working for a premier league club. What a mickey mouse outfit we really are these days.

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bleedblue added 13:58 - Dec 10 For heavens sake, did you all actually think we would keep wickham until he got to his full potential?? You are living in cookoo land! We could have won the Championship this year with him being our No.1 player and we could have offered him big cash on a new contract, but hey, guess what, he still would have gone in the summer at the latest whether it be for £10 - £20 - or even £30+ million! Clubs would pay that for someone of his ability. It is a shame, yes I completely agree and im gutted, but live in the real world (as Keane says) he will leave for a bigger club. Its what he deserves at the end of the day.

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Back_The_Boss added 14:01 - Dec 10 Not so sure if his future is at PR. A big money move in the january transfer window is likely.
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Dorsetblue added 14:39 - Dec 10 If he does leave then hope we get good money for him. But if I was him, I would think, is this right for me or my agent? But looks like he is out of the door,
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itfc1981 added 14:48 - Dec 10 so he's saying we want a Bale or a wallcot price not a Roooney one then. It's going to happen is my reading of this. :(
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itfc1981 added 14:51 - Dec 10 anthying above 3 million is good work, what load of rubbish, bet you were happy Bent went for 2.5!
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jas0999 added 18:21 - Dec 10 Bottom line is even if Roy wants to keep Wickham, it will be taken out of his hands. Clegg and more importantly Evans will have the final say on this and I fully expect Connor to leave in January. Players come and players go. It would be sad to see him go, but equally it's not as though he's our leading scorer this season! If we receive close to £10M for a 17 year old who could turn out to be the next Ronney then it's probably good business, as he could also be the next haynes, Bowditch or Clarke.

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bobble added 21:40 - Dec 10 i wish someone would be more realistic on keanes future here
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Johnny_Boy added 22:33 - Dec 10 Flogging Rhodes & then Wickham. Nice one Roy. Why not sell Portman Road to Tescos whilst you're at it....
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lunatic38 added 21:38 - Dec 16 Considering the state of this Club Wickham will be 100 mile outta Ipswich before the ink even dried on his new contract for another club. Question is Clegg will do the nitty gritty when it comes to the value and when i think of that my heart sinks, i have read some spectacular stuff "8 million plus loan him back" etc. Other managers are not mugs and they know the state of Ipswich and they also know Clegg is an utter complete waster numpty, so i am speculating 250,000 up front with add ons totalling the whole deal at one million pounds. Problem is , Keane might then get some more money to waste er spend i mean. THIS IS MY LAST POST ON HERE UNTIL KEANE IS GONE, I WILL NOT SPEND ANOTHER MINUTE OR PENNY REGARDING ITFC UNTIL THERE HAS BEEN A SERIOUS CLEAR OUT BECAUSE THIS CLUB IS BEING DESTROYED INSIDE OUT AND IT IS HURTING ME, WE HAVE BEEN HUMILIATED AT CARROW ROAD AND IT HAS HAPPENED TOO MANY TIMES IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS, I STILL REMEMBER THE LAST TV OUTING AGAINST NEWCASTLE WHERE THEY ALSO SCORED 4 AGAINST US A VERY VERY POOR TEAM. PLEASE ALL THE KEANE SUPPORTERS WAKE THE F..K UP, I BID YOU ALL FAREWELL UNTIL THAT GREAT MOMENT WHEN THE C>>T HAS FINALLY LEFT.

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