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

ITFC1812 added 10:23 - Jun 29 It's not over till the fat lady sings, come on Liverpool pull your finger out! Lets see what develops today.
0

simplesuffolkfarmer1 added 10:23 - Jun 29 Real shame, gonna miss heckling "go on connor" from the stands but suppose we gotta move on, good business at the end of the day, 9million for a player who is yet to prove himself by performing week in week out. However dont think its the best move for connor, he will rarely start and soon be forgotten I think, maybe he will prove me wrong but dont think so for a few years yet. WE'VE GOT CARSON! COYB. FOSC

0

whippet added 10:25 - Jun 29 VERY bad time to be an ITFC fan. Defence and midfield are woeful at the moment and our young star striker is gone. Can only hope we buy 9 or 10 players with the cash (and I don't mean 33 year olds wanting a last pay cheque)
0

whippet added 10:28 - Jun 29 I would welcome back Troy Brown and Tom Eastman with open arms right now
0

naa added 10:35 - Jun 29 You can't argue with the price and can understand why it's been accepted. But I would have liked to have at least seen him play a full season in his favoured position for us. I appreciate that we have to sell our young talent, as we did Dyer, it's just the way of life these days, but this time we didn't even really get to see him play. At least we had one great season out of Dyer before he went. But, as someone pointed out earlier, the Dyer sale essentially got us promoted because Burley used the money very well.

0

evansblue added 10:39 - Jun 29 I am gutted that Connor is off. The last 6 years have been appalling but finally there seemed to be some light at the end of the tunnel. After 2 seasons where his chances were limited I was really looking forward to seeing Connor form a partnership with Chopra. What's the point of having these players if you never get to see the end product. Of course he was going to leave at sometime but surely we were entitled to one more year. People say we can use the £9m to buy some new players but how far will that go? Doncaster rate Sharp at £3m for starters. We have so few decent players on our books and we all know we need as a minimum 5 quality players to even have a chance of the top 6. If we knew Connor was off why are we not going after people like Mackail Smith, Danns, Maynard? These are the type of player that get you in the top 6. No disrespect to our two freebies but these are not the type to excite fans. Early days perhaps but we have been useless for far too long now and I want better.

0

AdamITFCBeaumont added 11:11 - Jun 29 Disappointing. I know its football, but why can we not just keep our young talent for a few seasons?
0

backinbeige added 11:14 - Jun 29 Simon Cox
0

Ipswich24 added 11:20 - Jun 29 Simon Cox great shout
0

mutters added 11:51 - Jun 29 dont forget, that 9 mill might be release clause in his contract. we might have no choice in the matter
0

Legend added 12:01 - Jun 29 What makes you all believe that PJ will be given most of the money to spend in the transfer market ?? Dont forget that this club is still is debt. I can see him maybe getting 1-1.5 million and the rest will go to balance the books. Personaly i think Wickham was a breath of fresh air and the best thing to happen to this club for a long time. I would have liked to see him stay for at least one more season. He was exciting to watch and i would have loved to see him having a full season along side Chopra tearing opposition apart. I know its a lot of money and all that blarney, but to me it shows the club lacks ambition in a big way!! Unless of course that 8 million is added to PJ's war chest which i very very much doubt!! Lets see if the club does have any ambition by getting Sharp or Maynard.......Dont hold your breath though! COYB!

0

corshamblue added 12:05 - Jun 29 . . . at least we've still got the best pies! Fine bit of business, stand up Masters Lavery & Murray ! Good Luck Connor, you've been one of a few shining lights for the last few seasons.
0

sixtouchfootball added 12:08 - Jun 29 See the Sunderland Echo has the initial fee at £8.1 million.
0

whoppit added 12:22 - Jun 29 Carson will be next in 12 months time I reckon
0

CosmicPup added 12:27 - Jun 29 There had better be a signing-on clause involved here. If Andy Carroll is worth 35 million then I can see Wickham leaving Sunderland for more than that in a couple of years time. But Town will probably mess that one up too.. If we were promoted last season I believe we would have kept Wickham a bit longer. I don't blame Keane, I blame the prinkles who appointed him for the loss of Wickham at this stage. At least we have Jewell, he should sort things out this season.

0

BlueVelvet added 12:28 - Jun 29 Lets hope ME spends the proceeds on players and not yachts and big boys toys
0

whippet added 12:29 - Jun 29 As Whoppit says above- Carson will go next year to WBA, Wolves or someone like that (and Griffiths the year after) Honestly, If you were Maynard, Sharp or Cox would you come to our club right now? Doncaster and co are ambitious. We are showing more and more that we are not. Wonder what Michael Chopra thinks of it all..............................
0

naa added 12:37 - Jun 29 I must admit, that while I understand the business thinking behind all of this you do have to look at the other clubs in our division and realise that we are no longer ambitious. Sadly, I think it's because of the expensive failings of Magilton and especially Keane that ME has now started being far more careful. He's spent a lot of money at this club and got us precisely nowhere, with a squad that isn't good enough to challenge as it stands. What we are left with is a threadbare squad and not much to spend. Other clubs like Leicester are spending for fun and clubs like Doncaster are stable enough to be able to hold out for unreasonable amounts of money for their better players (and £3M for Sharp is unreasonable). I guess we just have to hope that Jewell is a master in the transfer market. Personally, I've been pleased with his dealings so far but we do need several more players so only time will tell.

0

whoppit added 12:37 - Jun 29 I heard that Wickham passed his medical with flying colours even with the acne.
0

denhamblue added 12:42 - Jun 29 um and i bet pj,wont see more than 1.5 million of that cash.Not saying we should go nuts,and get ripped off,But ive been a town fan long enough to know the score,so watch this space for more cheapies,bargain no body wants buys.Good luck connor,i wish you well.
0

Legend added 12:44 - Jun 29 Just heard the deal has been done! Now lets see if this club has any real drive and ambition by giving PJ at least 6 million.........................I very much doubt it. Big mistake letting that lad go......will this club ever learn!
0

Blue_thro_n_thro added 12:44 - Jun 29 Why is it that some people cant see beyond the ends of their noses!!! We have another exciting young talent in Josh Carson so why are we getting hung up on only have scotland priskin chopra and ellington. Carson looked very dangerous picking the ball up in the hole behind the striker and running at the opposition defence. Why dont we play 4 3 1 2 and play with carson in behind ellington and chopra and use him as a creative player play o'connor left back and attack down the flank get an attacking rb to do the same down the other

0

BrettenhamBlue added 12:49 - Jun 29 Though I think the level of negativity on this board is reaching the ridiculous, I can unfortunately clearly see what others are saying. Maybe I've been looking at Ipswich with rose-tinted glasses for a bit too long. We have a minimal squad (but I believe a good manager). There is no way that we should be selling any player at this point. So, a release clause was reached... Why? We should have had no release clause on Wickham or at least one that was so high that it would never be reached (25million for example). The points made by a number of posters about lack of ambition is true. If I was a professional footballer looking for a Championship club I would pick Bristol, Leicester, Leeds, Doncaster- in fact nearly every other club in our division---before I picked Ipswich. We have a threadbare squad and lack quality in most areas of the field. We are obviously not destined for promotion (only someone living in dreamworld would believe we are going to get promoted this season). I am so sad for our great club. Mis-spending by Keane and misjudgement of talent has led to us being in the position we are in. Marcus Evans won't let us go down though. This is his business afterall and if Ipswich fails a part of his business fails. Maybe he can see like us that with the other teams in this division this year we have next to no chance of promotion (so there is no point spending millions for no reason),

0

warkway added 13:23 - Jun 29 The comparisons with Dyer are hopeful, to say the least. Dyer left a team that was already qualifying regualrly for the play offs and needed tinkering to get it it to the Prem. This is not the case with CW, who leaves a team that struggled last year and has lost its best players. There is a big deiiference between having £9m (even assuming it all goes to player purchases and not a very good lunch for ME) and buying £9m worth of top players. I'd love to hear a commitment from ME that he'll invest all this in players. Doubt we'll get it.

0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls