Town manager Paul Jewell says that despite all the speculation, the Blues are yet to receive any enquiries regarding striker Connor Wickham during his time at the club. Tottenham and Liverpool were both represented at Portman Road on Saturday, while Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle and Sunderland have also been mentioned in connection with the England U21 international in recent weeks.

Spurs are believed to be the frontrunners for the 17-year-old’s signature, but Jewell says that as yet there have been no offers in his time as Blues boss: “There haven’t been any.”

But the Town manager admits that even the biggest clubs eventually receive bids that they can't refuse: “Every player has a price, you ask Manchester United - Ronaldo went. Every player has his price, but I don’t want to sell Connor Wickham.

“To answer the question, I haven’t had the opportunity to sell him because since I’ve been here, no one’s enquired about him, certainly not that I know of anyway.”

Jewell is still looking to add to his squad, believing that his strike force is one area where a boost is required, the Blues having failed to land Charlie Austin — who subsequently joined Burnley from Swindon — during the transfer window: “I feel we’re just lacking that real 25-goal-a-season man that takes you right up the league.

“I’m happy with the way things are progressing. The players have been terrific and I can’t ask any more of them at the moment.

“We’re always looking to improve and sometimes someone gets a chance - Jason Scotland’s got two goals in three games.

“Everyone’s got an opportunity, it’s up to them to prove to me that they want to be here next season. Hopefully they’ll all want to be here, but we can add to that as well.”

While pleased with Carlos Edwards’s performances at right-back, Jewell tried to sign Habib Beye on loan last week having been told that the Senegalese international was keen on a move: “I thought we had the right-back tied up but he decided at the last minute that he wanted to stay at Aston Villa.

“It was a good job we found out that he didn’t want to come on loan before he came here. We don’t want anyone here who doesn’t want to be here.

"We were led to believe he wanted to be here. If someone decides he wants to stay and train with their reserves, perhaps he’s better off doing that."

Jewell says bringing in targets at this point in the campaign can prove difficult: “We are trying to improve all areas, but at this stage of the season, it’s not that easy to get players out of clubs because there are very few games that are meaningless these days.

"With the play-offs and relegation, there are very few teams that want to do anyone a favour.”

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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