Town striker Connor Wickham has been named in the provisional 40-man England squad for this summer’s UEFA European U21 Championship in Denmark. Stuart Pearce will reduce the party down to 23 by June 1st.

Prior to the tournament, England face Norway in a warm-up game at Southampton on June 5th. Once in Denmark, Pearce’s side will take on Spain on June 12th, Ukraine on June 15th and the Czech Republic on June 19th.

Wickham, who has previously won three England U21 caps, netted the winning goal as England beat Spain 2-1 in the final of the European U17 Championships in Liechtenstein last summer.

England U21s: Frankie Fielding (Blackburn Rovers), Scott Loach (Watford), Jason Steele (Middlesbrough), Alex McCarthy (Reading), Joe Bennett (Middlesbrough), Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Michael Mancienne (Wolverhampton Wanderers - loan from Chelsea), Ben Mee (Leicester City - loan from Manchester City), Kyle Naughton (Leicester City - loan from Tottenham), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), James Tomkins (West Ham United), Kieran Trippier (Barnsley - loan from Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Aston Villa - loan from Tottenham Hotspur), Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa), Jack Cork (Burnley - loan from Chelsea), Tom Cleverley (Wigan Athletic - loan from Man Utd), Mark Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Adam Hammill (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jordan Henderson (Sunderland), Jonathan Howson (Leeds United), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Henri Lansbury (Norwich City - loan from Arsenal), Josh McEachran (Chelsea), Fabrice Muamba (Bolton Wanderers), Jack Rodwell (Everton), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Scott Sinclair (Swansea City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Nathan Delfouneso (Burnley - loan from Aston Villa), Gary Hooper (Celtic), Jay Rodriguez (Burnley), Freddie Sears (West Ham United), Daniel Sturridge (Bolton Wanderers - loan from Chelsea), James Vaughan (Crystal Palace - loan from Everton), Danny Welbeck (Sunderland - loan from Man Utd), Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town).

Photo: Action Images

fourth added 17:38 - May 3 There we are then with Andy Carroll, Jack Wilshere, Micah Richards and a host of others. Really good news
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jas0999 added 17:40 - May 3 Good news - but will he still be our player by the end of it?
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itfc1981 added 17:58 - May 3 Thank christ! some good news at last. That will keep me going through the early part of the summer!
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itfc1981 added 17:59 - May 3 bugger just read the word provisional, sigh
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Lamby95 added 18:06 - May 3 Wouldn't fancy being Pearce trying to pick a first XI out of that.
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TrueBlue91 added 18:29 - May 3 looks like he definetly wont be in the final squad then with carroll, welbeck, sturridge, hooper etc in there
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s6blue added 18:29 - May 3 be very interesting to see if he makes it to denmark -- imho better than delfauneso,vaughan,sears,rodriguez,probably hooper but his quiet end to the season could be the problem
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tractorbarny added 18:31 - May 3 I think he'll make the squad proper with Sturridge, Welbeck and J-Rod as the other strikers. The FA are trying to promote Wickham as the next big thing and this will fit into their plans nicely.
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floridaboy added 18:56 - May 3 He wont go, not good enough. No way will he oust Welbeck, Carroll etc. Needs to up his game next season and work a lot harder than he has of late. Hopefully Spurs will give us £15m for him and PJ can then get in a couple of good goalscorers because we wont get out of the championship relying on Wickham to score 20 goals a season. Still very overrated IMHO!
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dave26itfc added 19:06 - May 3 how does U21s work? I don't understand, half of them are over 21, hooper, carroll, loach etc ?
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Mark added 19:23 - May 3 Good news, but there is a risk his head will be turned by the "loadsamoney" Premier League boys. We need to hold onto Wickham. I know we'd get a big fee for him, but I am hoping Evans will fund Jewell's transfer kitty in the same way he did for Magilton and Keane (without the sale of Wickham!).
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august10 added 19:39 - May 3 The boy has done well not the finished article yet by a long way, seams to have the right people giving him advice, but for goodness sake PJ he is a CENTRE FORWARD!!! Knowone on here has mentioned Norwich, should have had a bet early season told my boy before a ball had been kicked they would finish above us, better team spirit, play until the final whistle, a couple of decent stikers ME has put his money in the wrong club, that should get a few feathers ruffled. Should give the blues all the encouragement they need to join them next season, assuming they stay up!!

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Hungry_Badger added 20:20 - May 3 if he wants to become a big player then he really needs to start getting into the U21 first team, so he needs to show himself in the friendlys and get into the final squad.
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redlodgeblue1 added 21:37 - May 3 You have the U20 World Cup from end of July you just know he will be called up to that squad as well.. could be a busy summer for Connor at this rate
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hollywoodginge added 21:56 - May 3 Dave - it's because they played in the qualifiers they are eligible, as long as your under 21 when the qualifying matches start I believe it's fine which makes sense when you think about it. Don't think Connor will make the cut with the players ahead of him and rightly so, he will get plenty of future chances but his time is not now, better off with the under 20's at the mo. I wish him well of course if he gets the nod. I hope that we take a strong squad and take it seriously as these kind of tournaments give a bit of experience of what it's like playing summer knock out tournaments, I'd take the carroll's and wiltshire's for that reason and give it a good go.

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Ipswich24 added 22:29 - May 3 I think it would benefit Connor to have a summer off and fully recharge his batteries. I wonder how many premier league managers will pull their players out due to a broken toe nail or a cold!
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Garv added 23:17 - May 3 I do find it funny how some on here are expecting spurs or whoever to shell out 10-15 mill on the kid.
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Dalty added 00:39 - May 4 Don't get me wrong I rate the guy and hope he stays for a couple of years at least, but the fact he's valued at £10 million-plus shows how ridiculously over-inflated English players prices are. Just imagine there was some Spanish forward who was of similar age, potential and status in the Segunda division, they'd probably fetch £6 million max to La Liga clubs.
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DiamondGezzer added 06:36 - May 4 Another shop window for him to sit in. At least this time, as Jas0999 correctly says, we've got him on a longer contract should someone come in for him.
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brian_a_mul added 09:01 - May 4 Hooper is the best striker in that bunch, I cant believe he is U-21! He has had a great season, scored tons of goals and will be full of confidence. Would make a great partner for Carroll. Welbeck is over rated and I think he may have been carrying an injury for a while now. Delfueneso hasnt played too much this season. Maybe Wickhams size, ability & adaptability will see him included. At this level he can play as lone striker, with a partner with 2 up front or out wide in a front 3. Plus he has had more game time than alot of the other strikers and has learned to track back/pressure defenders. A good player to have on the bench.

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Special_A added 09:46 - May 4 Wickham wont go and to be honest I don't think you could take him when you look at that squad. It would have been great to see him go, however, he didn't do anything special when he last featured for the U21's. Needed a great individual goal or performance to have given him a fighting chance.
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