@LUFC: BREAKING: The cub can confirm the signing of Sunderland striker Connor Wickham on loan until the end of the season. #lufc
Leeds United have won the race to sign Sunderland striker Connor Wickham on loan until the end of the season.
The highly-rated 20-year-old, who cost the Wearside club £8m when he joined from Ipswich in 2011, boasts 28 goals from 128 appearances and has represented England at all levels up to Under-21.
“We are delighted to have signed Connor until the end of the season,” said United manager Brian McDermott.
“There was a lot of competition for his signature, but he was very keen to come and play at Leeds United. He is another young English player who has everything in front of him.”
Wickham carved out a name for himself at Ipswich before earning a move to Premier League Sunderland. He has also had two loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday.
The striker is the club’s second signing in the space of a week, with Wickham following in the footsteps of full England international Jack Butland, who has joined on loan from Stoke and made an impressive debut at Middlesbrough last weekend.
Elland Road managing director David Haigh said: “We’re delighted to bring another quality player into the club. Jack showed why we were so keen to sign him with a terrific performance at Middlesbrough on Saturday, and Connor is another young player with a similar pedigree.
“Brian has made no secret of the fact that he has been looking to strengthen, and we’re delighted we’ve been able to support him with two key acquisitions to the squad.”
Well done to the overall work ethic of the background staff to bring in both Butland and Wickham in the past week, it has been years since there was this sort of youthful pedigree walking through the tunnel at Elland Road, i suspect it has been financed by Cellino and he's probably got the nod from the FL in word only but not officially and hes ploughing in some cash to fund these two signings.
As a critic of our bargain bin transfer strategy for many years now I am genuinely excited about a signing for the first time in I don't know how long. (Butland is a great signing also but I don't get as excited about goalkeepers!) Of all realistic options of strikers we could have brought in, Wickham would have been right up there for me as a first choice target. He is a player who fits the mould as a foil to McCormack perfectly, tall and strong, pacey and skillfull, someone who can hold the ball up, but with a real goal threat also. A young player with plenty of potential to improve in the right environment.
I have read that his time may be up at Sunderland and he may be available in the summer for around £3m. Considering he has already had a successful loan spell at Wednesday, and they wanted him back, it may be that he has plumped for Leeds with a view to a permanent move in the summer, something Wednesday couldn't afford. I certainly hope so. I am really looking forward to the QPR game now to see how he does. A season that appeared to have petered out again in February, just maybe might not be a write off just yet.
I know what you mean, DM ...
I wrote that I'm excited for next season with the caliber of these signings, but in the back of my mind I was actually wondering about the rest of this campaign.
rigger wrote:I know what you mean, DM ...
I wrote that I'm excited for next season with the caliber of these signings, but in the back of my mind I was actually wondering about the rest of this campaign.
We couldn't sneak in to the play-offs could we ??
Who knows mate, the teams above us are pretty average, so let's not rule it out, unlikely, a bit too late probably, but ...... Let's see where the Cellino express ride takes us.
We are Leeds, we have to believe our new players are good enough, encourage and support them and help them grow in to a team to be reckoned with. MoT
