Connor Wickham and Being In the Know

By: Noel | June 29th, 2011

Reported Liverpool target Connor Wickham has officially signed on with Sunderland today for a base fee of £8M rising to £12M if he meets certain performance and appearance benchmarks. He’s 18 years old, a highly rated striker, and was likely assured of playing time at Sunderland while the club must be sure themselves that in four or five years they’ll be able to move him on him for twice as much.

As a result there’s been much gnashing of teeth amongst some Liverpool fans who were convinced he was a target, but with an £8M base fee and the player reportedly a fan it might be better to ask if Liverpool was ever seriously in for him. Wickham, along with Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, and Charlie Adam, have been rumoured targets since before the transfer window opened. They were targets before Liverpool was seriously linked to Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson, who they then signed relatively quickly. They were also rumoured targets before Liverpool took a run at Phil Jones, another case that went from nothing to Liverpool having their bid accepted to Jones deciding he’d rather head to United in the course of a few days.

In January, talk of Luis Suarez as a target only ever leaked out from Ajax as they attempted to drive up his price by finding another potential suitor through the press. Then when Torres made it clear he wanted to leave, Andy Carroll was lined up and signed up in record time. Which is all to say that not a lot comes out of Liverpool these days, unless of course it’s things that never seem to come true and may or may not actually be coming out of the club. Meanwhile, two weeks ago Ipswich’s manager explicitly stated that Liverpool hadn’t made a bid, and this was after weeks of rumours in the press and from supposed In the Knows that his signing was immanent.

So maybe Liverpool got pipped by Sunderland and everybody should be tearing their hair out. Or just maybe Liverpool were never seriously in for him. Given the increasing evidence that nobody’s actually in the know when it comes to Liverpool under FSG, Comolli, and Dalglish, while the most solidly sourced soundbyte on Wickham suggests Liverpool never went that hard for him if they were going for him at all, one option fairly obviously makes more sense.

Unless of course you’re a journalist who is paid to know these sorts of things and suddenly finds that more often than not he doesn’t. Or unless you’re somebody claiming In the Know status to secure some kind of minor internet fame and a boatload of followers on Twitter. If that’s the case, then you’ve spent the last month and a half saying Charlie Adam is signing tomorrow, having his medical right now, or being driven to Liverpool at least six days a week. You’ve also been saying that Liverpool is exceptionally interested in Connor Wickham even though they just dropped £35M on Andy Carroll in the age group above him and have their own highly rated prospect, Adam Morgan, an age group below. Then it’s very much in your best interest to push the angle that Liverpool was somehow beaten out by Sunderland for a player they desperately wanted and needed, and that it all points to doom, chaos, and crumbling transfer plans.

Either the club has dropped the ball on Wickham and doesn’t quite know what it’s doing, or all the people who claim oracle status are almost entirely in the dark and constantly shouting “Charlie Adam!” in the desperate hope that the transfer everybody expects to happen eventually will in fact take place and that they can then somehow claim vindication and validation.

So Connor Wickham has signed for Sunderland, and congratulations to them. He’s a quality prospect, already a decent player, and he should bag them at least a handful of goals next term while being an asset with high resale value. Still, it’s hard to see him having gotten meaningful minutes with Liverpool next season, and even if the club was interested in him, any actual hard information suggests that it was a minor interest at best. That makes it a bad day for the club if you’re the sort whose personal reputation would be damaged by admitting it’s really not that bad a day for the club.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

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RichJSY

I find all of the speculation over transfers totally amazing. It's a known fact - and Kenny has reiterated it in press conferences on several occasions - that Liverpool FC do their business in private. They don't make a decision on a player and then run outside and tell anyone who'll listen. They spend a lot of time making certain that everything is right for both parties, then strike the deal and finally announce it in a formal manner. Other than those in the process, absolutely none of us have any idea what the LFC board is proposing to do over the next 8 weeks in terms of buying and selling players, so let's just sit back and wait and see. We know that Messrs Comolli, Dalglish, Clarke, and all at FSG want to invest in the long term future of our club and that they want and need domestic success to support this. Together, they are a shrewd group of individuals who know exactly what they are doing and I for one have absolute faith that they will do all the right things for LFC. Ignore the speculation, the fabricated stories, the lies, the jealousy, the gripes and all the other nonsense that goes on during the summer, have faith in our management team and lets see who's in the squad at the beginning of August. When all's said and done, there isn't a single thing that any of us can do about it anyway!
Dcoleman0603

I hope they don't sign Adam or Downing. They just kind of seem like Benitez signings of players who have already proven what they're worth but for some reason or another are expected to turn world class when they come to liverpool like a pennant or a keane. Why on earth would we not be in for mata especially when he seems to be cheaper than downing.
Avinash Joshi

Sort of what I have been telling my mates all along. But yeah it works both ways I also scoffed at henderson deal when I first heard it saying that let it happen then we shall talk. I have never really taken these rumors at heart. I think everyone just reads it cos there is nothing else to do/read unless you are a BIG fan of tennis. And well you gotta discuss football right? So, the bullshit follows. Anyway as everyone said already happy the shit is staying in and I would rather be surprised with a henderson deal than like the last time transfers where we were seeing joe cole come from miles away.
On a side note, welcome back Noel! Your last post was on 22nd June. No offence to Ed but well he isnt as flamboyant(shall I say it?) as you. A small one by your standards nevertheless a good one.
Ed

I don't know, I thought posting that picture of Carlos Tevez licking someone was pretty edgy.
Avinash Joshi

Another question how do these comments stack up as in even though my comment was later than some of the ones above me it still appears after a few comments. Not that I mind just curious. If it is not time based then do some people have priority or some shit like that?
Ed

Our commenting system has different ways of organizing them...I think the default is based on what receives the most likes, but there's different settings at the top of the commenting thread.
Tropics Red

Fair play to Sunderland; they have the squad where Wickham is needed and a manager who will play a youngster if the youngster is good enough (see Henderson, Meyler, Colback, Wellbeck etc). It will be much better for his development if he goes there. And if he is a Liverpool fan , and if he steps up to the standard required, and if kicks on at the highest level, then we must surely have a great chance of landing him in the future.
Of course, if his potential is never realised, then we've dodged a bullet.
Lee Colbran

Great context; there is so much bullshit being spurted out by crap blogs trying to gain traffic on the sake of glory hunting headlines. I really cannot be doing with it all; wait until the club announce, else wise it is a crock of shite.
Geza

Thanks Noel, very well put once again. What really annoys me is that despite completely agreeing with you, I can't help checking the BBC Sports transfer gossip column every morning and the latest news on walkon.com at least 2-3 times (ok...make it 5-6 times) a day....

Anyway, on the Wickham saga, your point on Carroll and mMorgan is spot on in my opinion.
RichJSY

LOL - I know what you mean Geza. We all know that it's utter rubbish, but you just can't help reading it and getting sucked in. The amount of times I find myself about to type a scathing remark on a report that we are about to sign 'X' or have just lost out to ManUre in signing 'Y' or can no longer afford 'Z'..... when I suddenly realise that I'm about to become a part of the tide of gullible believers who carry stories like this along, when all the while it's actually totally unfounded nonsense. It must be hilarious to be on the LFC Management Team and to read these stories every day and think 'really? we're after him now are we?... great, I'll go and let the rest of the board know!'

The very worst place for this kind of thing is the NewsNow:Liverpool site, where all of the nonsense is collated into one steaming cesspool of bullshit! I challenge anyone to go there and not get sucked in!
INCABRUCE

Why haven't we signed a good(preferably prolific) winger yet?
Cheekyfellow

Not July 1st yet, simmer down now
ejbauer11

When Kenny took over, I seem to remember a very explicit comment about returning to the liverpool way and keeping things in-house: a less-than-veiled jab at the previous owners and state of the club when he arrived. Since then, the players have minded their tongues - along w/ everyone else at the club, and as you bring to the fore, noel, the carroll, suarez and henderson signings were accomplished with little or no notice to the supporters, which is exactly how it should be. Bringing that kind of dignity back to the club, which dignity is at the core of pool's identity, is no less important than bringing in quality talent that also allows room for our promising youths to develop. Regardless, thanks for the post - even if it means you're the one stuck writing about people writing about nothing. YNWA.
Khaine

For the better, really.

Like Noel, it's occurred to me that apparently nobody outside the club knows anything. There will be transfers, both in and out. The state of the squad demands it. Transfers so far indicate that as long as it serves the club, everybody involved will remain silent about the matter until it is completed. Less exciting in terms of speculation than the alternative, but definitely preferable when it comes to actually strengthening the team. Which is a verbose way of saying it's good stuff.

Somewhat related, and guaranteed to both supply some optimism and food for thought, as well as make time move somewhat faster in this bermuda triangle of a transfer window:

http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/0...

Some of the articles this one links to, specifically the ft.com and Leaders in Performance ones are excellent and highly recommended as well.
Red2death

So... with all the talk about Mata, I guess this means we're not getting him then?
Then again, it also means we won't be getting Charlie Adam. Not bad.

Instead, we will be getting _____ and _______ and the next Liverpool captain _________ who'll lead us to #19 through #25.

Come on Kenny. Fill in the blanks!
Mhaverna

ahhhhh i love this part of the cycle! here's where the signing that was never good enough in the first place goes to a different team and then everyone who didn't want him in the first place freaks out saying we're missing out on all of our targets. can't wait for downing to be next!

also, a message to Ed. i want you to know that i blame you and only you for the Gold Cup collapse to Mexico. you must have a steve cherundolo voodoo doll that allowed for Jonny Bornstein to come in and do his usual acts of subversion. well played ed, well played.
Ed

Glad to have helped, I'm now renouncing my citizenship.
FalloniusMaximus

Jonathan Bornstein must have pictures of Bob Bradley giving a rusty trombone to Sunil Gulati....how he continues to get called up to the USMNT is a mystery for the ages. Although I didn't see the match over the weekend, after Cherundolo got injured why not bring on Edu at center back (which was done in the WC, if I'm not mistaken) and push Bocanegra wide. Or play ANYONE else at outside back.
Matty

NEWS!! ACTUAL GLORIOUS NEWS!!
I swear, my head's about to explode. At this point I could really care less what the news is actually about. Plus, this news isn't even that strongly related to Liverpool, either. But I don't care, it's still freaking glorious!
Personally, I'm not all that disappointed that Wickham didn't end up signing for us. Like you said, Noel, we already have two very talented/promising young English strikers, along with a pointy-eared magician and the Dutch version of the Energizer Bunny who all need (and deserve) playing time. And with us being out of Europe, there will be a smaller amount of minutes to go around than previous seasons. Although that's not to say that I wouldn't welcome another striker, but that this team's depth has much greater needs elsewhere. Also, already have two strikers in the likes of Ngog and Jovanovic that we need to make sure we can offload before bringing anyone else in (yes, Jovanovic can also play on the wing like Kuyt, but he is a striker.)

Only two more days until the International Window of Shits and Giggles opens!! Oh what joy!

BTW, great post, Noel. I very much enjoyed it!
NOLAred

I wish opinons like Noel's here were the norm for Liverpool fans this summer but sadly this seems to be the exception to the usual batshit crazy rumors being tossed around during silly season. Looks like most followers we'll never learn.

Question for others, have you ever though of making a fake twitter account just to see how many people you can trick that you're making a big announcement, then just give them more "Charlie Adam set to take medical within hours"? I think in the end it would be more depressing that funny because too many people would probably take you serious.
Justin

It's my suspicion that priority at this point might be more on moving certain players out of the club and less on bringing certain players in. Or, it's possible that both are ongoing priorities.

But I also think it is a dangerous position to just assume that all is right and that Liverpool has only missed out on targets it never intended to acquire.
FalloniusMaximus

Re: "But I also think it is a dangerous position to just assume that all is
right and that Liverpool has only missed out on targets it never
intended to acquire."

Justin, I totally agree. I would assume there are cases (Jones and maybe Ashley Young) where LFC wanted a player and lost out. But I don't think we should assume something is "wrong" in those cases. Those players decided to play somewhere else and we move to other targets. And I think the Wickham example is a good one, in a player with potential who has constantly been linked to Liverpool but may never have been in our plans and is not really what we need.

Ah, fuck it....when does the season start!!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PDubz18

I liked this post. Recently the other team I watch religiously aside from Liverpool, Inter Milan, went through a coaching change; needless to say the press ran away with it because neither the president nor the transfer director were saying anything about the matter. After being linked with 10 different coaches that were "already signed," the coach that actually was hired was portrayed by the press as being the "fifth choice" because the "evidence" linking him to Inter was the least blown out of proportion. The president later said that there was only one other contact for the coaching job through the whole ordeal, and could not take the job due to personal matters.

In other words, transfer rumors are fun to read and try to recreate in Fifa and Football Manager, but trying to glean any true information from them is damn near impossible.
FalloniusMaximus

Thanks for this Noel. With no matches to watch, the transfer market often substitutes for the wins and losses I desperately crave and the sections of my simple mind that I try to quell told me that Liverpool "lost" to Sunderland in this case. When in reality, we already have a big, young English striker and don't need another one. And your points about Liverpool's dealings in the market under the new regime are spot on. They move quickly, quietly and strategically. Even if Liverpool wanted Wickham, he wanted to go somewhere else, so fair play to him.
Carroll9

I think Wickham would've loved to have gone to Liverpool instead of Sunderland, we just didn't put a bid in and all the hype was from journos, we were never that interested. Maybe if he was 6 Mil, we may have tried harder to sign him but at the end of the day it was all an exaggerated rumour. Funniest one i say today was James Milner...seriously the journos are going crazy!
mardia

Honestly, at this point, I am seriously questioning whether ANYONE knows LFC's real targets this summer. The club has been incredibly quiet, and all the predictions that people have made--Downing, Adam, Wickham--haven't come to pass. At this point, unless it's coming from the club directly, I've decided to not believe it.
Dale

Mardia, if that's how you feel, then might i suggest that KK and the new owners have achieved their aims. I for one am delighted that we will no longer be carrying out our business via media channels. As KK said several times last season, when we have new for you you'll be the first to know.

ps. Don't be surprised if Downing does not come to us this summer a 27 year old who will be on a big salary does not fit the profile of players we are going to get. Who we do end up with will be only dictated by KK and the employees of the club, not the internet speculators who have been clutching at straws for several weeks now.

Have fun, I'm about to go on holiday safe in the knowledge things are alright at Anfield once again.

YNWA