Striker Jason Scotland says team-mate Connor Wickham will play for England one day. Scotland, who netted Town's second goal in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Cardiff, has been hugely impressed with the 17-year-old since joining the club from Wigan in a £750,000 deal last month.

Scotland said: “I couldn’t believe when I came into the club that he was that big and that young. He’s got a big future ahead of him, not just for Ipswich but England and he’s probably going to play for one of the top clubs in English football. But for now he needs to focus on doing well and being as good as he can be."

The Trinidad and Tobago international admits that the youngster already has the edge on him in some aspects of the game: “I’m not as big and strong as him! I’m not as good in the air and he will be more of a handful for defenders than me because he’s strong and powerful in the air.

“In training our defenders hate to play against him, they say ‘Connor, you should be on my team!’ because they know how dangerous he can be.

“He loves a battle and putting himself about but he’s a good player as well. He brings people into play. Playing week in and week out, he’s only going to get better.”

Scotland, who was convinced the Blues ought to have been awarded a first half penalty on Saturday when Wickham was felled by Gabor Gyepes, is pleased with the way his Town career has started but says he’s not yet fully fit: “I’m delighted, that’s two goals in five games.

“It’s been all right, we’re second in the table, we’re playing decent football and we just want to keep our foot on the pedal and do as well as we can and see where that takes us.

“Fitness-wise I’m getting there, I don’t want to say I’m at top fitness but I’m getting there. It’s taking me a lot of time to recover because we’re playing Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday and when you’re not fit you tend to recover slower and when you’re fit you recover faster, so it’s taking me a little more time to recover with the games coming thick and fast.”

Meanwhile, released keeper Richard Wright is reportedly close to joining Hull City. The 32-year-old, who was training with George Burley’s Crystal Palace over the summer, was linked with Sheffield United over the weekend.

Photo: Action Images

DanLyles added 09:12 - Sep 20 The striker Wickham reminds me of the most is Shearer. Very strong, good at holding the ball up, decent if not lightning pace and a thunderous shot. His heading has improved no end since last year and will only get better. Rooney and Wickham up front for England at Brazil 2014!!!
0

wellhungphil added 09:30 - Sep 20 40 million quid!! Not a penny less!! Good man Connor!!!
0

Karlosfandangal added 09:38 - Sep 20 DanLeyes rooney and Wickham for Man U and England can't see us keeping him Jan transfer window or the end of the season even if we go up got a feeling he will be sold to help build a squad to try and stay in the prem
0

MVBlue added 09:53 - Sep 20 Don't see why we need to sell Wickham. We've provided England players before. Call me an optimist, but I like to think we're not the same club we were 5-10 years ago. Wickham does remind me of Shearer too DanLyles. But his shots aren't the same level yet. However Shearer on 5Live last week did say he knew he wasn't the best player at Southampton at that time. Wickham is similar to Shearers muscle, Rooneys early pace, Heskeys arial ability, Les Ferdinands early career threat.

0

brockleyblueboy added 10:08 - Sep 20 Danlyles great shout on the Shearer comparison, however I have to disagree with you about the rooney/wickham partnership in 2014. Wickham will be the head of a 4-5-1 ;-) Seriously though when he gets his first goal and gets fully fit he is going to frighten the hell out of the opposition and if they stick 2 or even 3 men on him, we have Scotland to tap the goals in. I am excited and possibly getting carried away but I don't care things haven't looked this good for a while so I am going to enjoy every minute and long may it continue :-)

0

DanLyles added 10:10 - Sep 20 NottinghamBlue, I'm moving to Robin Hood country a week today to do an MSc, have you come across many town fans?
0

howsey51 added 10:12 - Sep 20 sadly despite what you say that we don't really need to sell him, the comments at the end of the transfer window coming out of the club- "we didn't recieve an offer matching the valuation we have of him"- implies he does have a price. Shame.
0

DanLyles added 10:49 - Sep 20 brocleyblueboy, wouldn't disagree with that. maybe it will look like a 4-2-3-1 variation of the 4-5-1 though. Wilshere and Rodwell as the two then Adam Johnson, Rooney and Walcott/Lennon behind Wickham. In all seriousness though, trying to predict the England team 4 years from now is an impossible task.
0

bleedblue added 11:02 - Sep 20 Unfortunately every player, and that does mean EVERY PLAYER in the world, has a price! I do think we could get £20 million+ for Wickham though - Evans knows Business - and English football knows Wickham, therefore people will see him as an amazinf investment - infact, sod it, £30mill +!!
0

joeippy01 added 11:14 - Sep 20 40 million haha grow up.
0

blue_em_away added 11:39 - Sep 20 bleedblue Agreed. CW's price was 10 mil + this summer. It will be 15 mil + in jan and 20 mil +++ in the summer. Got a feeling he will go to Arsenal in Jan for £17.5 mil. They have been crying out for a player like him for a couple of seasons. Would work well with walcott IF he can learn to cross and make the RIGHT choices on the pitch.
0

N4_Blue added 11:59 - Sep 20 Shearer bagged a hat trick on his Southampton debut when he was 17 against Arsenal in the top tier. I'm really impressed with Wickham but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
0

dubblue added 12:01 - Sep 20 Somebody already commented that Conor was not great in the air, now Jason says Conor is better in the air then him. Oh dear! Surely demonstrates the need to avoid hoofing high balls into the box! COYB!
0

zippyrainbow added 12:25 - Sep 20 Wise advice from Scotland there. He is all clued into the very best players in the country isn't he? After all, he couldn't get past any of those top defenders to put the ball in the net. Why did we sign this bloke? IF we go up, you know he will be useless. If Keane has made an attempt to sign Chopra, we need not replace him IF we go up but Scotland will be out of here on a free transfer. If anybody wants him of course.

0

Fatboy added 12:32 - Sep 20 Connor looked good on Saturday, terrorising the Cardiff defence every time he got the ball. Turned on to Look East when I got home to catch some early highlights and all they said of him was "Connor Wickham marked his return to the starting line up with a yellow card". They must have had their yellow-tinted spectacles on again.
0

brockleyblueboy added 12:43 - Sep 20 Blatant rumour but my United pal believes that Roy Keane has spoken to Alex Ferguson and asked him to leave Conor alone for 2 seasons with Ipswch and that if they do United get first dibs on a £20m+ deal. Sound ridiculous or does it? But lets not talk about him going any where, like I say lets just enjoy that we have hnow and enjoy him terrorising defences. I haven't felt this confident of our front line since Bent and Kuqi. However this time we have the defence to back us up. Oh and Zippy - zip it mate, every single post you make is negative. Like you have been told before, if you don't like it why do you support Ipswich? What is it that you do actually like about ipswich town football club?

0

moomoosereni added 12:46 - Sep 20 Oh dear Zippy I just commented on your other recent post, and judging by this one you still haven't got any have you! We need to buy you a beer and chill you out a bit don't we! Whats your address again I'll come pick you up, what number Carrow Road do you live at?
0

blue_em_away added 13:33 - Sep 20 brockleyblueboy... Not very likely is it? 1 his contract will be up by then. 2 I can't even see CW playing for us in 12 months time, never mind 2 seasons. Hope he is tho. Zippy you are an idiot! You got nothing better to do than lick your keyboard with your yellow tongue?
0

Back_The_Boss added 13:41 - Sep 20 Wickham is the future of English football. He will partner Rooney upfront for England in a few years time.
0

BluEGonZo added 17:59 - Sep 20 10 milloin if we dont go up this year!! his contract worries me a little 2 years if he doesnt sign an extension, so if we dont go up i think he will go?or we may actually need him to go as compo is rubbish.. hope he stays though ofcourse. think it may even be best for him to stay until early twenties but who knows
0

BluEGonZo added 18:01 - Sep 20 zip you are still a muppet!! i hate your face noob
0

Blueknight85 added 23:05 - Sep 20 blue em away ..he wont be worth 20 mill in the summer... we would get about 5 mill for him then as he will only have a year left on his contract. on another note ...whos seen the keane interview on sky sports he is not happy with jason scotlands comments one bit he said jason should keep his mouth shut or become wickhams agent.
0

PutYaBootsOnKeano added 01:27 - Sep 21 Wow guys! I was struck by how much Connor still has to learn on Saturday! There screams vast potential for sure, but we really need to be patient. I thought that he has a few things to learn especially about making clever runs. I would add that we've been so desperately lacking in strike force for so many years, suddenly we have Scotland who looked excellent on Saturday, strong, intelligent and confident.. just a damn solid player; and an exciting colt next to him who makes an instant physical impact. What will make Connor is confidence, but not just from scoring a few goals, actually deciding in his head he is the very best, and that he can win games on his own. That mentality change is what separates the creme de la creme of footballers from the highly talented. Remember, at this age, Rooney was bashing them in from 30 yds in top premiership fixtures and showing ruthless fearlessness.

0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls