Source: Team_Talk
Black Cats clinch Wickham deal
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce on Wednesday landed a major transfer coup when he snapped up teenage Ipswich striker Connor Wickham.[LNB] The 18-year-old headed for Wearside on Tuesday night to undergo a medical after the Black Cats' offer of £8.1million, potentially rising to £12million, was accepted.[LNB]Talks over a four-year contract have now been concluded with Bruce having got his man after striking decisively to land a player who had previously been linked with Liverpool - the club he supported as a boy - Arsenal and Tottenham.[LNB]Bruce said: "A number of top sides have been chasing Connor for some time now, so naturally we are absolutely delighted he has chosen to come to Sunderland.[LNB]"He's still very young, but at 6ft 3in he's a physical presence. With his height and style of play, he will offer us a threat in front of goal and complement our existing strikers.[LNB]"We have been watching him for a while now and he is improving and developing all the time. He's a great prospect and I'm sure our supporters will love watching him play."[LNB]The Hereford-born England Under-21 international emerged from the ranks at Portman Road to establish himself in the first team. He scored nine npower Championship goals last season.[LNB]He is unlikely to be the last striker to arrive at the Stadium of Light this summer with Bruce targeting at least two, if not three, frontmen following a difficult end to the last Premier League campaign.[LNB]The Black Cats took the decisions to accept Aston Villa's £24million bid for leading scorer Darren Bent in January and not to spend in haste to replace him with Fraizer Campbell close to a return from a knee injury.[LNB]However, with loan signing Danny Welbeck, who has since returned to parent club Manchester United, also sidelined, Campbell broke down in training and will miss most of next season as well.[LNB]That left Asamoah Gyan as the club's only fit senior specialist up front, and that is a situation Bruce is desperate to address as a matter of urgency.[LNB]South Korea international Ji Dong-won is close to completing his move from Chunnam Dragons, while much of the groundwork on a deal to bring Liverpool's David Ngog to Wearside has been done, although his arrival is less certain.[LNB]
