Connor Wickham ⭑ From A-Z since '92
Only Leeds United could sign a potential World Cup striker on loan, play him on the wing, use him for long throws then let him go back early to a higher level where he plundered five goals in three games.
This is part of my (eight year long, it'll fly by) attempt to write about every Leeds United player since 1992. For more about why I'm doing this, go back to Aapo Halme, and to read all the players so far, browse the archive here.
Connor Wickham came to Leeds like a mirage of a better world, then became like everything else a slapstick component of the unfunny demise of Brian McDermott at the hands of the witless comedy of Gulf Finance House and Massimo Cellino. Not just Wickham, but Jack Butland too! We'd never had it so good, and never had it go so bad.
Wickham was still trying to become someone when he got to Leeds. A consequence when players show their potential so early is that their development always then feels delayed. He was a month short of his 21st birthday but, to some, Wickham was trying to rebuild his stalled career.
In 2009 he had usurped Jason Dozell as Ipswich Town's youngest player, making his debut eleven days after his sixteenth birthday. Over the next twelve months he gradually increased his presence in the Championship, adding goals and drawing attention. He also gained a hefty contract with a large release clause, mindful of Premier League interest coming from places like Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. He scored nine goals in 2010/11 and the offer Ipswich felt compelled to accept came from Sunderland, £8m rising to £12m, below the rumoured release fee but a record for a Championship player moving to the Premier League. All this for a player who had just turned eighteen.
Wickham had stature beyond his age. Already 6ft 3in, he had the top heavy physique more associated with the lumbering grace of rugby. He was perhaps influenced by the exercises that built his father, a serving soldier who toured Iraq and Afghanistan. What he couldn't discover, yet, was the sharpness to move that frame around Premier League defenders who weren't intimidated by his size. Manager Steve Bruce could teach him from a defender's point of view, and was easing him towards starts and his first Premier League goal, against Aston Villa, but by the end of November Bruce had been replaced by Martin O'Neill. O'Neill was more realistic about Wickham's development, holding him in reserve behind Nicklas Bendtner, Stéphane Sessègnon and Steven Fletcher until granting him a month on loan at Sheffield Wednesday in February 2013. That March, O'Neill was sacked.
New manager Paolo Di Canio hinted at new problems in Wickham's development. "Maybe, with this guy, I have to slap his face a little bit," he said. "I'm talking about motivating him in a genuine way because he has so much potential. But sometimes he comes in (to training) and he seems to be looking around saying, 'Where am I?'. I want to say, 'You are on the football pitch, with the grass'.
"He is an intelligent guy, but once he seemed to be complaining because it was wet. I told him that is typical for this area. Maybe if he doesn't go out in a small t-shirt when it is wet and cold, he won't be complaining. I have told him, 'No small t-shirts'. I don't want him to be missing a couple of games because he is a Playboy model. We are footballers, that is our job."
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