Submitted by Dave Williams on Sat, 09/24/2011 - 14:26 Sunderland teenager Connor Wickham is desperate for a chance to show the Barclays Premier League what he is capable of. The 18-year-old striker joined the Black Cats from Ipswich during the summer for an initial £8.1million, and so far has been restricted to five appearances as a substitute. Wickham said: "Obviously, it's been quite frustrating. I just want to play football and when we are not doing so well, I feel and want to go on and show everyone what I can do and what I am capable of doing. "But I have just got to do the best I can every time I get on to the pitch. I have got to do enough in those 15, 20, 35 minutes that I am capable of doing what I have done before. "Every day and in every game, you need to do your best and when you do your best, it builds your confidence. "Confidence is key to any footballer and I have got confidence at the moment, so I just want to be playing football." i for one would like to see him given more playing time god knows he cost enough so lets get him up to speed.
Good lad and a good prospect and at only 18, even he can see we havent been playing well this season, so he is no mug either. I dont believe he will find his future to lie here at all and does no-on else think, like Bent, Cana and Gyan before him, he wont be here 5 mins longer than 12 months time? With manager that prefers a part time striker rather than a full time one, the chances of the lad being able to show us what all the fuss was about is limited to 5 mins here and there and the hope of injuries for him. Christ, we didn't even see him against lower league opposition in the cup last month, so he has no chance of playing in the EPL with us this season.
But is this a sign of the times? Are we just paying the home grown premium, some pundit proclaims a player to be the next Shearer or Rooney and that adds an extra 0 to the price. Stats aside we are paying for potential and now it's up to the lad to prove he can cut it at the top level and I have to reserve judgement at the moment. Most fans are over the moon we are bringing in such raw talent and they believe he can step up and do the job. Not to be the pessimistic but his stats at Championship level were average and I think we may of robbed ourselves buying into the hype. It may be too much for Connor to live up to. At that price I'd expect a 15-20 goal striker and add his age and inexperience at the top level I think we'll be lucky to see 10 goals for the season. That would disappoint fans who will be expecting a lot. Of course I'd love to be proven wrong, he could be the next number 9 and hopefully break into the national squad for the Euros come the season's end. But it's going to be a hard graft. Lucky for him he is now at a club where every player is supported by the fans and the staff have a knack for developing and moulding great young talent. Let's hope he is a success and hopefully his goals can help the push for the top eight.
Top 8? Have I missed something? Not a hope in hells of that happening this year. We havent had our customary 2nd half of the season slump yet (Bruce will be going for his 4th in a row now) only this time, we havent had the much needed good start to enable us to ride it out. Top 8? Bottom 8 more likely.
Bruce bought him,and must give the lad a chance....he should pick him,and play him,for at least until Xmas!!Last season,he played a young Danny Welbeck...only because Sir Alex told him to!!
