Chelsea join the race for English wonderkid

There is a new young English superstar-in-the-making up at Ipswich, and apparently it is only a matter of time before he is snapped up by one of the bigger clubs, with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal joining the chase he can pick and choose where he goes. He turns 17 at the end of March so there will be plenty of time for negotiations.

His name is Connor Wickham, and at 16 he is the youngest Ipswich first team player of all time.

He added greatly to his burgeoning reputation a couple of weeks ago when he scored a hat-trick for the England U17 side against Azerbaijan in just 21 minutes, and is now in a position to make the big clubs join a bidding war before he signs professional papers on his 17th birthday.

He is already 6’3″ and more than ready to hold his own against older players, but Ipswich are resigned to losing him as he has refused to sign on the dotted line.

A club source is quoted in the Mail as saying: ‘Whenever Wickham is down to play for the first team or reserves, two dozen scouts emerge out of nowhere to watch him. The consensus is he’s as good as Rooney was at that age but is a lot bigger.’

He certainly has the potential to be a big star, and whoever takes him will feel that they have made a very shrewd investment.