Sunderland agree a fee for Wickham

IPSWICH TOWN have accepted Sunderland’s €14.5 million bid for their teenage striker Connor Wickham but any deal is far from finalised.

Although only 18, the 6ft 3in England Under-21 international has attracted interest from Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham and will need to be persuaded that the Stadium of Light is the right destination at this stage in his development.

Wickham and his representative have scheduled lengthy talks with Steve Bruce and Niall Quinn, Sunderland’s manager and chairman, over the coming days. Bruce and Quinn aim to convince a forward who has seemingly had his heart set on a move to his boyhood idols Liverpool that he will enjoy a greater chance of first-team football on Wearside than at a more glamorous Premier League club.

Wickham made his senior debut for Ipswich at 16 and has scored 15 times in 65 club appearances. Although that is a less than startling ratio, he has frequently been deployed as a winger at Portman Road.

Bruce is braced for counter-bids from Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs and their chances of success may depend on the manner in which any such offers are structured. Sunderland are prepared to pay €5.7 million up front with the remaining €8.8 million payable on the fulfilment of assorted, mainly appearance-related, clauses.

In many ways the ball is in Liverpool’s court but, despite registering an interest with Ipswich, they have yet to make a formal bid for Wickham and may now regard other targets as more important.

Having secured Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for €22.8 million, Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, is pursuing Aston Villa’s Stewart Downing, Blackpool’s Charlie Adam and Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon. This could help Quinn and Bruce sell their club to Ipswich’s richly promising but still unproven teenager.

Meanwhile Craig Gardner, the Birmingham City midfielder, was scheduled to undergo a medical at Sunderland yesterday ahead of an agreed €5.7 million move and is expected to complete his transfer today. The versatile 24-year-old was Birmingham’s top scorer last season with 10 goals from midfield.

Bruce, who has also signed Keiren Westwood, Sebastian Larsson and Ji Dong-won this summer, is hoping Cristian Riveros, his Paraguay midfielder, will shortly finalise a proposed season’s loan to the Turkish club Kayserispor after failing to establish himself in English football.

Wigan’s Charles N’Zogbia remains high on Sunderland’s shopping list and they have also lodged bids for the Manchester United trio Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Darron Gibson and retain an interest in the services of Liverpool striker, David Ngog.

Bruce also hopes to again recruit Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck and Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha on one-year loans.

Guardian Service