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

Umros added 22:18 - Jun 28 Excellent, injuries, starts, sub appearances or whatever could be offered but a poor goals return from a stiker is my view, 18 or otherwise. A hatrick at Doncaster the highlight of his town careeer says it all, this is no Darren Bent and I reckon its a good cash in. Fingers crossed for some of the fund to spend though, here is where we see how ambitious our owner really is............

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cressi added 22:19 - Jun 28 Ipswich 24 i meant keep conner and add quality around him get rid of the dead wood as i walked out the last home game i said they could all go except Wickham and young Carson dont kick me yet i expect a much better season but Conner would be one year older and would have added to what we buy this summer
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power19 added 22:19 - Jun 28 CW certainly isnt a Rooney when he was 17! Whilst he is 'one for the future', if we don't use some of the funds to buy 3, 4 or even 5 decent players, a repeat of the last 5 years of mediocracy is not a future I would particularly relish or the next genration of ITFC fans who can experience more atmosphere at the local library (if its still open). Get in the real world all those who don't think that he should have been sold - Man City we aint!!!

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Umros added 22:24 - Jun 28 Good luck connor.............we'll remember you for.....................?????!!!!!, oh yeah 3 goals against the mighty Doncaster (1 penalty). Adios!.
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Blue041273 added 22:24 - Jun 28 No brainer really. I can't think of any player in the Championship that would attract this kind of fee. The risk here is all with Sunderland. It's no good thinking that another year with us will enhance his value. Sunderland are trying to buy potential. Potentially he could score 25 goals for us next season and purely meet Premier League expectations. In other words his value to a Premier League team will not be affected. In reality the value for us lies in his youth. Every year he gets older his value will inevitably decrease. It sounds like it's a done deal. Good luck Connor and thanks for the memories (especially the Sheff Utd goal). But let's move on now and use the legacy fruitfully.

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bluearmy4life added 22:28 - Jun 28 Churchmans....... I would agree in getting Bullard on board. Once CW Has passed his medical and officially signs for Sunderland we can afford JB. He made a masssive difference last season think what he could do in a full season? Signing JB Would be great and with one or two more additons on top of that we could be challenging or should be.
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mickshrimpton added 22:33 - Jun 28 I think it's a curious move for Wickham who has time on his side and could easily get forgotten about if he doesn't perform in the Premiership. Teams like Sunderland don't spend £9 million on players with the intention of playing them in the reserves for a couple of seasons to see how they develop. He has to play and perform from the start and from what I saw last season he's not ready for that. I saw him play up front in the Cup at Stamford Bridge last season - admittedly in a poor and demoralised team - and he didn't get a kick. It would have been nice to have seen him develop into the player I think he can be with us but realistically it doesn't work like that any more. The key - as others have said - is that Jewell gets the money to spend. We were told he didn't need to be sold. If that's the case then there's no reason why the money shouldn't be reinvested.

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marcus139 added 22:33 - Jun 28 Do not expect this money to be reinvested in squad. Maybe 3million tops. Rest will be used to cover running costs next year. Down to jewell to use what he has got like lambert last year.
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whoppit added 22:38 - Jun 28 If Wickham didn't want to go, he would have told us so. Contracts work both ways. Truth is he wants to play at the highest level and there is not too much chance of that happening here for a while is there??
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ITFC_Budapest added 22:39 - Jun 28 Sigh yet another footballer motivated by money, he could have stayed one more year and have a good chance of being part of a championship winning team, but no he'd rather jump ship to a club that will get nowhere near winning anything just so he can get a more money. No complaints if he'd moved to a big club with a chance of winning something, but sunderland!
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BurleyForever added 22:43 - Jun 28 Good luck Conner you are going to need playing for an ex Bujjie. Still think we should go for Boothroyd
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marcus139 added 22:50 - Jun 28 Itfc Budapest. It is not the player motivated by money. It is the club. They could refuse offer if they want to keep him. He does not want to go to sunderland, and I am sure this does not hit buy out clause. But, I am sure m.Evans will not ever truly put his money in to club like a jack walker. As such, this will tide us over for another year to see if we can get up by some miracle, and then he will have tripled his investment.

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Lightningboy added 22:54 - Jun 28 No loyalty anymore. I'm not begrudging Connor his move or his new no doubt astronomical salary but money is king..nothing will change until a world-wide wage cap is brought in to bring these greedy gits back down to earth with the rest of us..Players & agents rule the game these days..it's changed for the worse over the last 10-15 years. Sometimes you just wish that the game of football had a great big "reset" button on the back of it so we could all start again.

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itfc77 added 22:57 - Jun 28 If he should succumb to the dizzy heights of a Premier League bench, think we should definately go for Mackail-Smith, St.Ledger and Bully, to start with.
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brogansnose added 23:03 - Jun 28 Although the club has decided to cash in now, and there is good argument for doing so, tonight I am feeling incredibly deflated. I sincerely hope that the money is spent on improving the squad for a proper promotion push, and not on mercenaries pension funds, because if not it sends out one hell of a depressing message. Good luck Connor.
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MickMillsTash added 23:14 - Jun 28 I feel sorry for wickham. Ok he will have loads of money etc but he is 18 and will have to live in or near Sunderland. he will work for 3 hours a day and then what? look round old shipyards, day out in Consett? colliery tour in Bishop Auckland, arm wrestling competition with Lee Cattermole - also it always wet and dark up there- it's sh1te At least when I went to Manchester as a Student I was able to turn to drink most evenings to help me cope with the scuzziness of the place. Sounds like an Agent is acting in the best interests of an agent

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jas1972 added 23:25 - Jun 28 having read the many comments and thought about the various combinations of "what if" I can only conclude that this is an excellent piece of business. Connor is a player with great potential - who hasn't actually done anything much yet. If he stays at Ipswich for next season he might score 20+ goals; he might get injured at Bristol City in the first week in August or in training next month. £9 million+ makes up for an awful lot of "what if"s. Why is there so much concern about the signing of Chopra? Re-reading the posts this time last year the biggest condemnation of those in command at ITFC was the failure to sign Chopra - yet here he is and people are moaning. Why do people think that we only have to conjure up a name and he will come rushing to Portman Road, eager to sign and play for Ipswich above any cash-rich side, of which there are plenty with much greater resources than ours? And why is there the continued clamour to sign Billy Sharp, a player who is clearly at his peak at Championship level and who only shines at clubs where there is no direct competition? A potential Premiership player he is not and never will be, as evidenced by the complete lack of interest in him by any actual Premiership side. And please - get over Jordan Rhodes.

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marcus139 added 23:28 - Jun 28 Mickmillstash I do not feel sorry for wickham one iota. Either way, he will earn more money in a week than most in a year, bored or not. Players come and go. I feel sorry for my fellow town fan. We want commitment this year, after the pain of the yellow revolution.I want to see delia mouths shut for once.
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jclark20 added 23:36 - Jun 28 @gilesy hahaa!
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gifkins989 added 23:37 - Jun 28 I Will be very sad if wickham does go to sunderland he was one of the best younger players at the clubs for the longer time and i hope wickham do play well in the preimership and hope we could him on a loan Good Luck Wickham in preimership
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Guthrum added 23:38 - Jun 28 Will be sorry to see him go (if he does), but can't blame him. TBH he doesn't stand much chance of actually playing for England at present or higher agegroups unless he's in a Prem team (think that probably counted against him in Denmark). Plus the wages and prospects are better. For example: There's no way Ipswich will be playing in Europe in less than two seasons - Sunderland are part-way there by at least being in a qualifying division - and it's a better shop window. Also not bad if the club receives a record fee for an untired player moving to the top tier. I'm not so bothered if the Manager doesn't get it all for transfers. We don't need to spend big, we need to spend WISELY - something Jewell seems good at. Best wishes Connor, hope your career goes well and you can come back and do the Dyer thing in 15 years' time!

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rosseden added 23:49 - Jun 28 £9m +++ for a relatively untried player who landed in our laps by chance of his dads job location is great business...... how p1ssed off must Reading fans be now...... great business for the club....... and yeah, i know its not ideal for us to sell when we think sentimentally, but reality is business comes first, sentiment second......
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Bluearmy71 added 23:53 - Jun 28 This is focking big pants......we are being mugged off once more! And for all those who are quite happily saying "when we sold Dyer" well that again was a situation like many from that time of us having to sell.......we were told time and time again that we no longer have to sell anyone and the its gets covered with everyone has their price.......so what price are we paying....9mil + add ons for a player who this time next year will be worth double that easily and would have probably played a vital role in any plans of promotion or even a good push for.........yeah brilliant price that........it will be nice to see how this "too good to refuse offer's" money is invested.......because come May if we have had another mediocre season the "what if's" will be flying about more than we have been linked to players so far this closed season!

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blueherts added 23:59 - Jun 28 If you speak to people at the club Ronan Murray is a better 'natural finisher' I would like to see him get some starts - and with Carson and Lavery we have some more great youth coming through ..Move on ..its a business and we have just done rather well , I trust PJ to spend wisely ..Oh and great job with the Pies...........
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BLUEBEAT added 00:02 - Jun 29 this is the 100th post on the subject and I would just like to say Josh Carson is better and we still have him :D
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