Town striker Connor Wickham is set to undergo a medical at Sunderland in the next 24 hours. The Blues and the Black Cats have spent the day in talks after the Premier League club offered a fee of £9 million plus a further £4 million in additional clauses based on appearances and achievements.

While last night’s tabloid report claiming that the Blues had accepted the offer slightly jumped the gun, it now increasingly appears that a deal is close to being concluded and we understand that the player is in the North-East this evening.

Despite previous suggestions from manager Paul Jewell that Wickham might not be interested in signing for one of the Premier League’s lesser lights, if a deal has been agreed with the Wearsiders and no other late offers are forthcoming, it’s difficult to see the Hereford-born frontman turning the move down.

Sunderland have stolen a march on the likes of Liverpool, the club Wickham supported as a boy, Spurs and Arsenal by firming up their interest in the England U21 international, making a bid which would make him the most expensive player to have moved from the Championship to the Premier League without previous experience in the top flight.

In 2006 Theo Walcott made the switch from Southampton to Arsenal for a fee which, after a renegotiation in 2008, eventually totalled £9 million, having initially been set at £12 million including clauses.

The deal would also make Wickham Town’s most expensive sale, smashing the £6.5 million Newcastle paid the Blues for Kieron Dyer in the summer of 1999.

Photo: Action Images

brainbox added 20:51 - Jun 28 OK - will be sorry to see CW go but, assuming PJ will have access to most of the initial £9m, this has to be an excellent deal for a relatively raw and premiership-untried striker - how many promising 18 year olds have we seen fall apart in recent years by 20? - nuff said - bank the cash and move on and up to the Premiership.....
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itfcjc added 20:51 - Jun 28 Good luck Connor When you win the world cup for england give us the credit
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Marshalls_Mullet added 20:51 - Jun 28 Sindre94- get in the real world!!
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algarvefan added 20:56 - Jun 28 NW5tractor we lost in the play offs before Dyer went, don't think we're anywhere near that form at the moment, but hey-ho we can all dream!!
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Marshalls_Mullet added 20:56 - Jun 28 SAW HIM SCORE A HAT TRICK AT DONCASTER, PRIVILEGED TO HAVE WITNESSED IT. GOOD LUCK CW
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nkotb_sect5 added 20:57 - Jun 28 Do you need real coaching badges for FM2011 or is it a toy?
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Amberjadewickham added 20:58 - Jun 28 Ipswich r stupid for gettin rid of a good young player
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GeorgiDoundarov added 20:59 - Jun 28 As I was saying all the time - I'd rather get good money for an unproven talent and use it for some 3-4 quality players. Because even if Wickham was the best player in the world, he alone can't do much to take us to Premiership. It is a number of quality players that can do that. So if we use the money properly we have a real shot even next season. Good luck to Connor (if he really goes)

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manualthetisfanclub added 20:59 - Jun 28 Good luck to you lad,can't help thick another season in championship would be better in the longterm,can only see sunderland struggling again and conner under pressure to get the goals which alas can't see him doing that which is unfair.as for the cash can't believe pj gets his hand on much of it,that will go to club costs next season.shame as we would need to replace him as pritstik and scotland aren't good enough as last season proved!

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andygizmo added 21:00 - Jun 28 Does that mean Ngog wont be going to Mackems? At 3M he might bring the youth and energy people have spoken of.
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Bluewelshman added 21:01 - Jun 28 £14 million for potential is a pretty good deal as long as Evans puts the money back into the transfer fund. Pitty that the likes of Conway, Treacy and St Ledger look like they are going elsewhere because now we could have more wages to offer them. Oh well, good luck Connor hope the move gives you the 1st team football you require to further your career, and maybe, just maybe Stuart Pearce might pick you to play?

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OrkneyBlue added 21:01 - Jun 28 As disappointed as the next blue, but as an exciting prospect he is and he is just that if we take our blue tinted specs off, £9m plus any extra could buy a three, four or maybe five better players than we already have making us a better team all round. That's football and good business. ....But then I think about it again and my blue tinted specs come back on!
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JimmyJazz added 21:01 - Jun 28 So no bidding war then. To me that suggests 2 things 1. No one else was prepared to pay that amount for him 2. We are getting the best deal possible this summer
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StochesStotasBlewe added 21:02 - Jun 28 Good luck Mr Wickham, it,s grim oop north. However, great business for ITFC, money to spend wisely in our quest to get to the promised land. Go get them in PJ.
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canveyblue added 21:04 - Jun 28 Good luck Connor, all the best for the future, go show them what a talent you will be, and remember- you have played for the greatest club in the world! All the best son.
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riley26 added 21:05 - Jun 28 People are listing players we could get with the money, would we rather not have these players and Wickham, isn't that the single most important reason that we have these clueless men with lots of money involved with our clubs? DO NOT NEED TO SELL - Or so they said? Yes it is a lot of money, but it is very unlikely Wickham's price is going to get any lower, I'd rather risk turning it down, then again it is not my money! Show some balls Town, keep the lad, one season, if we get promoted maybe he would stay with us, if not, thanks and good luck. Stay with us Connor!

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Blue_Square added 21:06 - Jun 28 Buy back Jordan Rhodes with 1M of the money.... That'd make up for some of the dissapointment of todays news.... PJ - Take note...!!!
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hmhb added 21:07 - Jun 28 bye bye
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Sparky85 added 21:09 - Jun 28 Good luck to the lad. Would rather see him at a decent prem side where he will play games than rotting in a top 4 reserve team. Would have been great to see him have 1 year upfront for us with chopra, but every player has a price and in the grand scheme of things this is a very good one for ITFC. If your looking for an omen try this one. We came so close year after year with Dyer in our team, then sold him, invested wisely and went up the next year. I very much doubt that PJ will get all 9-13 mill to spend. But £5 mill will buy you some great talent for the championship. All the best Conner, i truly hope you become a great England start and everyone remembers where you came from. If you have a cheap pricetag in the fantasy football next year, i think it will be worth the gamble. Moving on, i firmly believe this could be our year. COYB!!!!

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docsavage52 added 21:11 - Jun 28 good luck to the lad, good money for the club as he has not really done that much yet aprt from the wonder goal against a very sad defence
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johnhazelbum added 21:11 - Jun 28 Cash in the bank isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's hope that PJ can use his imagination and come up with some players that aren't has beens, injured or out of form. Good luck Connor, it isn't fair to hang promotion hopes on one player. And £9m should help rebuild our threadbare team.
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broomfield123 added 21:12 - Jun 28 I'm gutted if he goes. For a change let's keep hold of a good youngster. I'm fed up of watching our players scoreing for villa, newcastle, spurs etc. Financially do we really have to sell him or is it cover costs of failed previous signing or the short fall of gate receipts. Can't see jewell getting the money. Carson , wickham and co should be the future and have players built around them. Its a shame we don't have the balls and keep these guys. Let's offer them something decent to keep them

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Bobby_Petta added 21:16 - Jun 28 If this is true, then it is a good price, can't blame the club for accepting the offer. My concern is that we should have got a replacement striker in first, because now every player we go for the price will jump up, with clubs knowing we have a lot of cash to spend. Think we should go back for Billy Sharp offer 3.5 mill, Will They should accept that?
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stoofer added 21:19 - Jun 28 its a shame liverpool haven`t made a move,as its heavily rumoured they would loan back wickham for the season.
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Bobby_Petta added 21:23 - Jun 28 Just read on sky sports that Reports have suggested that Sunderland were preparing an offer of £13m, but it is thought that the initial fee is less than £9m. sounds about right accept a low offer probably only about 7 mill, just wondered how it has now drop, does anyone really know how much we have accepted?
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