Town boss Paul Jewell says the Blues have to be satisfied with the fee they negotiated with Sunderland for striker Connor Wickham. The Black Cats have paid Town an initial £8.1 million with the deal set to rise to beyond £12 million via add-ons, while the Blues will receive a percentage of the profit the Wearsiders make if they sell the England U21 international frontman.

Jewell said: "When Sunderland's offer was accepted, we gave Connor permission to speak to Sunderland and left it up to the player.

"I would have been delighted to have seen him turn up for training with us on Friday but Connor is understandably keen to play in the Premier League and we wish him well.

"The move had to be right for Ipswich Town as well though, and I think we have to be satisfied with the fee we have received.

"We would have liked to have kept the lad, obviously, and weren't looking to sell, but when you get a good offer for a player, any player, you have to look at it."

Jewell, who has been on holiday in Florida, will be back at Playford Road for the start of pre-season training on Friday. Town's academy scholars, including left-back Joe Whight who was offered a two-year professional contract at the end of last season, are already back at the club.

Photo: Action Images

TractorBoy added 16:49 - Jun 29 Agree, good offer for him. All the best to him and roll season next season.
0

Surco72 added 16:51 - Jun 29 Can we stop talking about Sunderland players and move on !! Who's coming in ?
0

pazelle added 16:54 - Jun 29 He'll be worth twice as much in a couple of years, I thought I supported a football club not a bank! Gutted, he's irreplaceable and unless we get Gio, Bullard and some crazy Spanish/Dutch boys in I already feel a bit jaded about next season. Can't wait to finish 11th and sell Carson ASAP! I'd pay to watch Wickham developing for us, I'm not paying to watch Nathan Ellington and Chopra bumbling around! Sign Gio Jewell you ABSOLUTE NUTCASE!

0

parkinshair added 16:55 - Jun 29 Hopefully things might get moving a bit now Jewell and his Mankini are back from Florida.
0

pazelle added 16:59 - Jun 29 We should set up a stables next to the academy, bring through promising young horses and sell them on to line the owners pockets before they've even raced. We could have a fruit farm as well and sell green bananas/green strawberries etc and all the money can go straight in to the ITFC current account. This is what football is all about!
0

Tillz9 added 16:59 - Jun 29 Hopefully he left his mankini there - not what I want to see PJ wearing in the dugout !!
0

LancsBlue added 17:01 - Jun 29 Pazelle - half a season in which he not only rescued us from relegation but did so very comfortably, lost good players through Keane's failures and has begun to build a TEAM for the future and suddenly Jewell is a nutcase. If you want to see a real fruitcake take a look in the mirror mate.
0

theblueginger added 17:03 - Jun 29 I'll be chuffed, if we spend it wisely.
0

bedsitfc added 17:03 - Jun 29 priskinshair - thats an image i want out of my head!!!! very good management from town in accepting that offer we all know what he can be but if connor was to fall out of form and chops and ellington were our first choice forward pair his value would drop. connor is far from the finished article. i dont think the sale of him will effect our promotion push in a negative way one player wont make any difference, but a few players from the fee can help us.

0

tractorblue99 added 17:05 - Jun 29 Your becoming a bit like whoppit pazelle. Thinking that we can sign anyone and that our future rests on one player. Buy a book about football please.
0

pazelle added 17:11 - Jun 29 Being chuffed about selling an 18 year old who is already our best player isn't something I'm willing to do. His value was only gonna rise, the Sunderland fans are gonna love it. We've got ONE scout, most of our targets have been domestic ones - if we had someone in Holland or Spain it'd lighten the blow but we're destined to be like Derby and Coventry for the foreseeable future. Re: Jewell, any manager would look like a genius when they're replacing Roy Keane! Our only hope of promotion was Wickham. He was our Premiership player in the Championship. Now we have a fully Championship team and all these 'realistic' targets are about as exciting as a tramp on the floor.

0

GeorgiDoundarov added 17:13 - Jun 29 And I agree with PJ. This is by far the best offer ITFC ever had for a player. So it is a good deal for sure. Now it is very important whether the whole sum or what part of it will go for new players. Because as the article says we need badly about 6 players. And the future additions must be quality ones if we want to compete next season. It is a MUST because we sold our top three players from the last season (Norris, McAuley, and Wickham) and we can add the loan of Bullard, which makes them 4... We got Chopra and Ellington, who to be fair to PJ are by far the best strikers we bought since ME came on board and Ingimarsson seems a good replacement of McAuley but we still need some 5-6 players at least as good as them. If we sell Fullop - a keeper too... So it will be tough time for PJ - hope he will do it right!!!

0

footyblue added 17:18 - Jun 29 I think its very good business after all he may have lots of promise, but as yet unproven.
0

oddball added 17:18 - Jun 29 This is a very good deal for ipswich town, lets put it in perspective, its the highest fee we have recieved for any player in our illustrious history. It is more than Theo Walcott transfer, its amazing. He probably be a good player but there are no certainties in football and he was yet to play a major role even at ipswich.
0

Sniegster added 17:19 - Jun 29 Not that I want to dwell on this, but did the Ipswich Badge fit on the back or the front of the mankini??? Sad to see Connor go but I'd rather it happen now than hang around for possible other bids and miss out on some good players.
0

robdaful added 17:19 - Jun 29 Sunderland have good a extremely good deal. And I don't even rate Wickham.
0

WickedBlue added 17:20 - Jun 29 @pazelle good bugger off up the road and support them and do all of us at Ipswich a favour.....
0

icetruckiller added 17:25 - Jun 29 MOVE ON PEOPLE! Connor is a Scumderland player now.
0

rosseden added 17:29 - Jun 29 ''Our only hope of promotion was Wickham'' its ok everyone, as you will see in the above post..... apparently we can play one player now and its our ticket to promotion...... get a grip, you need a solid squad of 22 at least to get out of this league, something we can work towards with this cash....... bellamy is twice the player wickham CURRENTLY is, and with a decent squad they didnt go up..... so id say you need at least 16 or 17 solid players, one or two playmakers, and a few good youth players like carson and murray, and youd be there or there abouts......

0

London_Blue added 17:34 - Jun 29 I have to say, despite his delivery, Pazelle does have one good point (but not as to whether we should have sold Wickham for £8-12m - no brainer); I am concerned that we are in danger of not spreading our wings at looking at European talent. It wasn't so long ago that the core of our UEFA cup winning team was made up of a predominantly Dutch midfield, not to mention the impact of Martin Reuser in more recent times. even Romeo Zondervan and Gus Uhlenbeek did a decent job for us. We, of course, won't speak about Pim Balkestein, especially when we should spent a little extra for Zuiverloon!! Anyway, my point is, that Keane was particularly famous for only sourcing players that either hailed from Ireland, or ones he had worked with previously. Now whilst I'm not bothered which country they come from, if the scouting set up fails to address talent from overseas, clearly we have a very limited market to go at, and my view is that players from Holland have a much more technical and disciplined development path.

0

jonwillpott added 17:38 - Jun 29 The reason Pazelle that we are still a championship side is becasue we have too many negative supporters....like you!!! If you are a true Ipswich fan then you should back the manager's judgement and give the players who will be turning out in our beloved strip this coming season all the support and backing they deserve and need to be succesful and reach the promised land. I will....and I won't give up on us being a Premiership side next season until it is mathematically impossible for us to do so - will you????!!!

0

rosseden added 17:38 - Jun 29 i think youll find the majority of the good youth from these countries are now in academies with tie ups or already in agreement with bigger clubs over here about deals, there just arent the unearthed gems about like there used to be......they get signed aged 7 and 8 and what not, then clubs like us get the cast offs later on..... if youre a Man U or a Chelski, why not have a HUGE academy with relatively low costs on the basis you might get one or two good ones.....

0

radiogaga added 17:41 - Jun 29 Pazelle, are you a relation of whoppit? Just that the 2 of you both talk equal levels of cr*p!!!!
0

London_Blue added 17:44 - Jun 29 well said rosseden, but have you seen the dross we've put out in recent years? I can't believe there isn't better value for money on the continent, especially as the UK market has proven to be very expensive. Why is it not possible, given our recent links, to have such an agreement in place. Along the lines of Man U and Royal Antwerp? it's not as though RA are contesting the major European cups every year, they just run a very technical academy which Man U's young players attend to improve their technical ability. Why isn't Josh Carson and Ronan Murray in such a place now, surely it would be more advantageous than loaning them out to Darlington!!

0

jas0999 added 17:44 - Jun 29 The key now is to invest the money wisely. Not on Rob Hulse, but a decent replacement, plus the four other players PJ wanted. Anything less and this sale will be very disappointing.
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls