Source: Team_Talk
Clegg: Cracking deal for Town
Ipswich chief executive Simon Clegg has admitted that Sunderland's offer for Connor Wickham was just too good to turn down.[LNB] The England Under-21 international completed his move to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday for an initial fee of £8.1million, which could rise to £12million.[LNB]Clegg felt the Portman Road club had little option but to accept the bid from the Black Cats and hinted the Premier League club may have paid over the odds for the 18-year-old.[LNB]"When offers on the table all of a sudden exceed what you believe the player is worth, at this particular moment in time, then you have to act," he told the Ipswich Evening Star. "You also have to take into account what you could do with the additional money.[LNB]"Negotiations had been going on for some time, and we had serious interest from Sunderland for the last week or 10 days.[LNB]"The result is that we have a cracking deal for Ipswich Town. I'm very pleased with it. And it's a good move for Connor as well. In fact, it's an historic day for the football club." [LNB]Clegg believes that the sale of Wickham will help the Tractor Boys secure a return to the Premier League and has pledged that manager Paul Jewell will now have additional funds this summer and in forthcoming transfer windows. [LNB]He added: "The important thing is that money is in the bank, to be made available over the forthcoming windows, to make sure we can see progression towards achieving the goal of Premiership status.[LNB]"It's not all about what happens this summer, or all about what happens this season. That money will drip feed over the next couple of years.[LNB]"A lot of that will be triggered by various clauses in the contract. The bottom line is, Paul (Jewell) will have additional resources, but as he made clear recently, he had money to spend whether Connor was here or not.[LNB]"There are always ifs and buts in football, but what this deal has done is given us a considerable sum of money to invest in the football club, and look to see how and where we can reinforce the club.[LNB]"No team is built around any one individual. The huge income that this sale has generated for this club will allow us to enhance the playing squad going forward."
