Sunderland are in talks with Ipswich Town over signing England Under-21 starlet Connor Wickham, skysports.com understands. Reports have suggested that a deal worth £13million has already been agreed between the two clubs. However, skysports.com understands that no deal has yet been struck, although talks are ongoing. Steve Bruce's side have emerged as front-runners to land the 18-year-old starlet, but the Black Cats know they are not the only Premier League club hunting the young striker. Liverpool are very keen, whilst Arsenal and Tottenham are maintaining a firm interest in the teenager.
FFH, I'm only saying what the radio has said not pasting cack from elsewhere. £10MIL upfront, rising to 13 depending on al the usuals. Could be a lot of ****e lad but they been saying it now since 9.30.
T H E L A D HA S A G R E E D T E R M S!!! Thats what they said, put the ****ing radio on FFS, news on the hour, every hour. Fat boy quinn is wiped out. Now boys, I really do need my bed.
Hope your right mate, I'd be well happy with him up front from what I've read about him, plus that goal on youtube where he runs 3/4 length of the pitch, does 2 defenders and calmly slots home is a bit special. Fingers crossed!
Hope you're right chunky... REALLY hope you're right - would be a fantastic signing for us and, at only 18, would represent a massive investment in the future This would signify a great statement of intent from the club - and possibly even get a number of the fans off Brucie's back as well
Could see Noble going in the other direction loan as well and someone mentioned some possible outstanding debt from the Edwards & Leadbitter deals so may not be that bad of a deal but we are definatley paying for potential here but its a safe investment
Scary! Let's hope he lives up to the hype. I for one apologise for my moaning at our lack of ambition. x
we all get a bit edgy this time of year but its not July yet so maybe we do need to sit tight. Nothing certain today but certanly this, Gardener, Dong and Long make it a more exciting day.
I hope its true he looks like a great player with loads of potential. If we could get Sturiddge or Welbeck as well even if its a loan I would be very happy. Gyan, Wickham, Dong and one of the above would be a good 4 going into next season. A left sided midfielder, left back and centre half and were almost there.
Hate to play devils advocate here but I don't think this is the right deal for Safc. £13m for an 18 year old who has 12 league goals in two seasons a level below the premiership? no doubt the lad may become a good top class striker but I don't know if we can afford to take that risk next season. Remember the aim is to replace Bent which to me suggests if we are spending £10m+ on a striker he should be a proven goalscorer in a top flight in a respectable league. I'm not opposed to the lad coming in but hope we bring in an experienced big man aswell to take the heat off him a bit as you can't expect him to play every minute of every game. Also the fact that he's a big lad, surely the aim is "better than Kenwyne" whickham sure has potential to be but currently no where near. There's better strikers out there for us for that kind of money.
I can see us signing him and getting Welbeck back on loan. It looks to me like Liverpool will get Downing which will mean we will lose out on Nzog because he will go to Villa. Welbeck of course can play that left wing role. I can see Liverpool dropping out on this one, they want Adam and Downing and that's going to cost them close to another 30m. They like us also need a left back and their is talk of 10m+ for Enrique. If we let them keep Ngog they cannot really justify another 13m for Wickham. Everyone keeps going on about a proven striker but I just keep thinking who? I don't want us to sign a Crouch or Pav because they are both too old and coming to the end of their careers. I like what Bruce is doing, he brings in young players like Gardener, Larson and Westwood. He is trying to build a squad for the future and I like that because as we saw with Henderson we have assets that we can sell too. With older players who are 29/30 your never going to get anything back from them.
I'd love to see us land the lad, but I have a strong feeling we'll get outbid and he is a staunch Liverpool fan!!
I don't think we are, or should be, looking for a direct replacement for Bent. That would mean getting someone who scores almost every goal at the expense of the midfield's input. Do we want that again? I don't think so. Wickham seems more like the type of player to bring others in to the attack.
I also heard that the Tractor Boys still owe us and I think this may have had a bearing on things. We also have a host of talented youngsters to loan out. I heard the deal was 9m with 4m add-ons, so perhaps we should not be so alarmed by the 13m reported fee.
Hiya Chunky ive been on nights also just got up and no further news Although this is a good prospect and ill admit i don't know enough about the lad but £13m is a lot of money and i would rather push the boat out for Sturridge. Still it means things are happening.
Well according to the echo it's done, at least with the club anyway. By Graeme Anderson Published on Tuesday 28 June 2011 11:45 SUNDERLAND have had a bid accepted for Ipswich Town star Connor Wickham and are now pushing for talks with the exciting young striker. The Black Cats have been bold in their pursuit of one of the hottest talents in football in recent days and have stolen a march on rivals Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs with the swiftness with which they agreed a price with the Tractor Boys. But now the race is on to tie up the England Under 21 forward’s signature ahead of potential bids coming in from the Premier League big guns. Several media sources claim that figure is in the region of £13m, although neither club is commenting on the figure. Either way, the deal is on, with Ipswich ready to accept Sunderland’s offer and allow the player to speak to the Black Cats. But Sunderland will have to work quickly to persuade Wickham his future lies on Wearside. Chairman Niall Quinn and manager Steve Bruce will pull out all the stops to convince the youngster the Stadium of Light is the right choice for him, with Bruce a long-term admirer of the forward. What remains to be seen is whether Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs or other clubs come in for the starlet now that a fee has been agreed. Sunderland have made it clear from the start how much they want to sign the precocious 18-year-old, while other clubs have simply registered an interest in the player ahead of a potential future offer. And Ipswich, who are desperately keen to complete the rebuilding begun with the summer signing’s of strikers Nathan Ellington and Michael Chopra, have resolved to get a sale agreed as quickly as possible so they can go into the transfer market again themselves. Ipswich boss Paul Jewell is adept at building promotion-winning sides and while he would have wanted to have held on to Wickham in an ideal world, he knows the money he can get for the teenager is massive in Championship terms and will allow him to create a squad he knows will be strong enough to mount an automatic promotion challenge. In many ways, Jewell finds himself in much the same situation as Bruce did with Jordan Henderson and has reached the same conclusion – sacrifice the young star so that the squad as a whole will significantly benefit. Sunderland have been dogged in their efforts to get Wickham, going back to the table several times to up their initial offer and over the weekend Ipswich finally came back and said that the Wearsiders had reached a figure they were prepared to accept. Liverpool – the team Wickham supported as a boy – and are believed to be his firs-choice for a move and the Reds are believed to be interested – but they have already acquired Henderson for approaching £20m are currently tied up with potential moves for Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Aaron Lennon
