West Ham blow as Wickham secures Sunderland future with new deal

Sunderland’s saviour, Manchester City’s nemesis, West Ham United target.

We are talking about Connor Wickham of course, who was the subject of a failed £4 million bid from the Hammers and who is set to be rewarded with a new £60,000 per week deal from the Black Cats who were determined to secure his future at the club.

Wickham has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of seasons and the 21 year old did attract a fair bit of interest in the summer as speculation over his future intensified – however Gus Poyet made it very clear that there was only one club for Wickham and it was Sunderland.

That is of course a huge blow for West Ham, who will now have to look elsewhere in January should they want to add another forward to their squad – although with the explosive return of Andy Carroll, Sam Allardyce may want to think again.

Wickham has a real knack of turning up in the big games and there is no denying that Sunderland are in a scrap to avoid relegation – and the key to getting out of that is goals. Goals galore, and they will be hoping that their £60,ooo per week man will provide them in spades.

In recent weeks, Sunderland have had to face Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool and have managed to avoid defeat in two of those games, only falling to beat Manchester City after putting in a world class shift against Chelsea in terms of their defensive work – although in their defeat to City, they managed to score their only goal which was courtesy of Wickham.

Sunderland fans. Just how highly do you value Connor Wickham? Is he one of the best players you have? Let us know your thoughts below, become a guest blogger or tweet us @LaFootyettes.