Sunderland bid for Wickham

Sunderland have made an offer thought to be in the region of £8m for Ipswich's highly rated striker Connor Wickham, the BBC understands.

The 18-year-old has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs, including Tottenham and Liverpool.

Wickham was part of England's Under-21 squad for the European Championship, although he did not play a match.

Sunderland are also in talks with midfielder Sebastian Larsson, 26, who has been released by Birmingham.

Wickham's future has been the subject of much speculation this summer, despite the teenager extending his contract until 2014 in April.

He made his Ipswich debut at the age of 16 years and 11 days, coming off the bench in a 3-1 defeat by Doncaster in April 2009.

Since then he has made 33 starts and 32 substitute appearances in the Championship, scoring 13 times.

Wickham announced himself on the international stage last summer, scoring the winning goal as England beat Spain 2-1 in the final of the European Under-17 Championship.

Ipswich manager Paul Jewell said last week that he expected a lot of interest in Wickham over the summer but that the club were under no pressure to sell.

Jewell said: "We don't want to sell Connor Wickham, but if he wants to leave and the right offer comes in then we'll have to consider it.

"But until then - Connor's never given me any indication he wants to leave - our backs aren't against the wall, we're in control of the situation."

Source: BBC