From the SAFC Facebook page: OâNeill impressed with strikerâs recent form. Martin OâNeill has been pleased with the recent progress made by Connor Wickham and says, in time, he will become a âreal playerâ. The 19-year-old made his first senior appearance of the season as a late substitute at Everton last weekend after some impressive showings for the development squad and Englandâs under-21 side. His goalscoring form hasnât escaped the attention of the Sunderland boss, who admits Wickham has had to develop under considerable pressure since joining the club in summer 2011. âConnor has been doing exceptionally well in training over the last few weeks and thatâs very promising,â he said. âItâs been a tough time for him because heâs come here with a big price tag and heâs at a pretty tender age as well. âThere has been pressure on him from day one to go and produce in this league as if heâs been here all his life. Itâs taken a little bit of time to get used to it but he will adjust Iâm sure. âIn the course of time, we will see a real player.â Meanwhile OâNeill says he is looking to keep the striker in his squad amidst rumours of a possible loan departure. "A number of clubs have asked about him and weâve already sent David Meyler out to Hull,â said the Sunderland boss. âWe donât have the biggest squad in the world. Of course it would be great for some of the younger players like Connor to get those games but we couldnât do it last week because Connor was in our squad â in fact he came on late in the game against Everton. We just donât have the numbers at this moment. âPlus the fact that now at this particular stage it might be difficult, because we have seven games in the next month. We just canât afford to do that at this moment.â
The lad deserves to be given a run in the first team and let us see what he is made of. We lashed out £8m on a lad who so far hasnt repaid the postage on his contract from Ipswich. He is big, strong and has recently shown a good goal scoring touch for reserves and England under 21's so why not give him a shout. If after 10 games he isnt doing the business then look to sell or loan him out. in January/February.
He is 19 and has plenty of time to develop, let's not just give home 10 games then get rid. Develop him properly. These things take time. Patience everyone. Don't start him on the left either. Too quick to expect instant success. If we play him too soon and he doesn't produce doesn't mean he never will.
He does need a run of games tho. Not a few mins here and there. Still think he will develop into a good big target man who will get his share of goals
I think the problem is we here of a young lad doing well and we want them straight in the first team. I'm guilty of this myself. I have high hope for Wickham but let's not throw them in to throw them out again. He's 19 and could be really special. He may well turn out to be Bruce's best signing. He'll hopefully get there but his time will come.
O'Neill blames busy December schedule for blocking Wickham loan switch from Sunderland Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill has blocked Connor Wickham's loan move to Sheffield Wednesday and told the England Under 21 striker to grab his fresh chance on Wearside. The former Ipswich striker, also linked with a move back to Portman Road, has scored three goals in his last four international appearances, but played just one minute in the Premier League this season. But the 19-year-old continues to impress O'Neill, who has used Steven Fletcher as a lone striker, with occasional glimpses of Louis Saha and Fraizer Campbell. Head boy: Striker Connor Wickham isn't getting a chance for Sunderland, but continues to bang in the goals for England Under 21s O'Neill said Wickham, who cost £8million in 2011, has a chance to impress in the top flight. He said: 'He has trained very well the last few weeks and in an ideal world it would have been better to get games in on loan but we can't afford to do that. 'He has to keep going, he has the potential to be a really decent player and he is working exceptionally well with Steve Guppy every single morning and he wants to do it. 'He has a strong appetite and since arriving here, although he has never kicked a ball in the Premier League, the fee the football club paid put him under pressure to perform and he has to put that to the side and get on with his game. He wants to prove himself and prove himself here. 'He is very young and I do think there was pressure on him and that might not have been anything to do with him originally but there was pressure to go and become an instant success. 'He has loads of time but he is improving and more importantly he wants to improve which is very encouraging. Some things happen too quickly and he is realising this is a tough old business. 'A few weeks ago when Sheffield Wednesday asked about him, and a few others, I would have considered it because it would have great and particularly with the under 21 games when his confidence is decent but I have not had the where-with-all so I hope he will come through here. 'We have had a number of conversations, I said I thought he was doing very well in training, to give him encouragement and he is still very young. 'He is very strong, in fact sometimes I don't think he realises how strong he is. He needs to add aspects to his game he maybe thought were there but might have deserted him but he has capabilities. 'It is about doing it out there. It would be very important for him to contribute now I need everybody here to step up and come to the fore.'
