Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town)

Gutted.

I highly rate him and think we could be missing out on a real gem.

Bruce has a history of buying players and upping their value. Think Sunderland have got a top player who we might want in four years but who could cost double or triple his value then.

Gutted.

I highly rate him and think we could be missing out on a real gem.

Bruce has a history of buying players and upping their value. Think Sunderland have got a top player who we might want in four years but who could cost double or triple his value then.

Spot on.

Black Cats snap up Wickham

Steve Bruce has made England under-21 international Connor Wickham his latest summer signing.
The 6'3" 18-year-old - rated as one of the country's brightest talents - has moved from Ipswich Town for a fee of £8m, with the potential to rise to £12m over the course of the contract, depending on a number of factors.
Wickham, who was named the Football League's Young Player of the Year for the 2010-11 season, has signed a four-year deal on Wearside.
The player returned from international duty earlier this week after representing his country in the U21 European Championships in Denmark.
Wickham became Ipswich's youngest ever player when he made his debut for the Tractor Boys aged just 16 years and 11 days.
The striker's first full season yielded a return of six goals in 10 starts and a further 19 appearances off the bench, while he netted nine goals in 40 games last term before winning the prestigious Football League award.
He also scored the winning goal for England's under-17 side in the U17 European Championships Final last summer.

http://www.safc.com/news/20110629/black-cats-snap-up-wickham_2256213_2383586

Close thread.

8 Million with add ons. Good deal that.
Excuse me while I go punch a wall and then come back and pretend I'm not a little gutted by that.

8 Million with add ons. Good deal that.
Excuse me while I go punch a wall and then come back and pretend I'm not a little gutted by that.

I'm upset about it but I can see the reasons why we didn't sign him, why he would of chose them and why Sunderland need him!

He isn't motivated by the Money it seems and that's always a good thing in a young player.

So on the first game of the season, Wickham plays Liverpool and Hendo plays Sunderland...? You just know that the mancs will buy him in the next few years for a cut price. I guess this means Sunderland don't need Ngog now either? Damn.

Good luck to him for the future, he will be a great player, and hopefully move onto us later in his career.

EDIT: I'm sure if we've missed out on Wickham, Kenny must've someone else in mind as we definitely could of afforded him.

8 Million with add ons. Good deal that.
Excuse me while I go punch a wall and then come back and pretend I'm not a little gutted by that.

I was gutted when Arsenal got Walcott for £12 million (£9 million basic fee plus £3 million in incentives) ... From today's point of view, I would never pay such an amount for the player ... Wickham might turn out to be very good, but he could also turn out to be the next Francis Jeffers ... For a basic fee up to £8 million, there are better and more talented young strikers around Europe and South America ...

Little gutted we didn't sign him as he's such a promising youngster and he is a Liverpool fan, isn't he?

I was gutted when Arsenal got Walcott for £12 million (£9 million basic fee plus £3 million in incentives) ... From today's point of view, I would never pay such an amount for the player ... Wickham might turn out to be very good, but he could also turn out to be the next Francis Jeffers ... For a basic fee up to £8 million, there are better and more talented young strikers around Europe and South America ...

Why do you keep calling him the next Francis Jeffers? From what I've seen Wickham has a completely different skillset.

Interesting that all the ITK's were so set on Wickham being one of our top targets. Makes you wander if we're even looking at half of these English players Kenny supposedly is trying to bring in.

I'm glad we walked away, we got Shelvey for a 1.7m down payment, Wilson for a 2m down payment - one of my opening posts in this thread was that we shouldn't be looking at more than at as a down payment.  I understand the market is currently inflated and 2m is possibly unreasonable but 4m or 5m tops as a down payment is fair, anything more and we're getting shafted, really pleased we walked away.

I thinks he's a quality young player from watching them when Keane took over. Irish link by the way. Disappointed on two levels. 1 We miss out. If indeed we were ever in for him in the first place. 2 One less club in for our David.           

I was gutted when Arsenal got Walcott for £12 million (£9 million basic fee plus £3 million in incentives) ... From today's point of view, I would never pay such an amount for the player ... Wickham might turn out to be very good, but he could also turn out to be the next Francis Jeffers ... For a basic fee up to £8 million, there are better and more talented young strikers around Europe and South America ...

I have mixed feelings about this one.  It is a risk paying that much for a player with potential, but he could well triple in value in the next 2-3 years, so it is hard saying now whether it is a shrewd investment or a waste of money.  Time will tell....

Anyone know what it would cost for us to prize Iker Muniain away from Bilbao?  I have a feeling that kid is going to be a world beater in a couple of years!

If this goes through then I take it the NGog deal is off?.

The real tragedy of all of this business.

The perspective of some folks on this board is ridiculous. One day we're "overspending" for young British talent, the next day we're overly-frugal and didn't stump up a sizable fee for an unproven English starlet in the making. Let's make up our minds people

The real tragedy of all of this business.

Why would that be a tragedy ? At this particular moment, Ngog is a better and more accomplished striker than Wickham ...

Why would that be a tragedy ? At this particular moment, Ngog is a better and more accomplished striker than Wickham ...

Who is probably overpaid (I'm not sure, just speculating), and won't get any game time (and shouldn't, given what he's shown) ahead of Suarez, Kuyt and Carroll.

Also, note I don't particularly care that Wickham's coming here. I just care that it keeps a player we're looking to offload on the books more than likely.

To be fair on Ngog, and I know that's the not the in-thing.

He has got a decent goalscoring record at the top level (ie. not Championship) that most strikers would be proud of.

2010-11

A goal every 244 minutes played - better than Rodriguez, Gerrard, Suarez, Carroll. Only marginally behind Kuyt and Torres for us.

2009-10

A goal every 202 minutes played - only behind Torres.

We're well aware that he does miss a few - but surely that is one stat that can't be denied?

Did Kenny, Steve Clarke or Comoli ever say we were interested in him because from where I am it shows the media and the itks haven't a f**king clue who our targets are. Looks like we didn't even bid here

To be fair on Ngog, and I know that's the not the in-thing.

He has got a decent goalscoring record at the top level (ie. not Championship) that most strikers would be proud of.

2010-11

A goal every 244 minutes played - better than Rodriguez, Gerrard, Suarez, Carroll. Only marginally behind Kuyt and Torres for us.

2009-10

A goal every 202 minutes played - only behind Torres.

We're well aware that he does miss a few - but surely that is one stat that can't be denied?

Fair to you, but I'm just using the eyes test. In the Premier League last year he didn't do much for me (outside of his Arsenal goal), and he was only serviceable in the early stages of the Europa League. I just don't see him as Liverpool standard myself, although he hasn't been the worst player for us.

Outdone by F***ing Sunderland.

We better have some F***ing player in the background.

I think for £13 million, its way to much. Other proven goal scores like Gameiro went for only €11 million, and better strikers are getting linked for that sort of price. Demba Cisse has been heavily linked to clubs for around 13 million, he got 24 goals last season in Germany. Better value elsewhere IMO.

If it was a case of us not paying more than we wanted I'm pleased we wern't forced into doing it. However, I think Wickham is a fantastic talent.

Cant believe we let this happen this will come back to haunt us. Getting bossed by sunderland F**k sake we basically paid for his transfer

I actually still think he could go either way and don't mind we missed out if we were ever interested at all