Wickham: Connor Neil Ralph

2014-2014 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Striker

Born: Hereford, Herefordshire: 31-03-1993

Debut: Queens Park Rangers (a): 15-03-2014

6'3" 11st 4lb (2014)

Brought up and educated in Colchester at Philip Morant School, he showed talent and a goal- scoring ability from an early age and played youth football with Reading, but moved to the youth academy at Ipswich Town in 2006. He scored once in one start and nine games from the bench in the 2007-08 season. and was part of the England Under -Sixteen squad that won the Victory Shield. and he scored once in two appearances. In 2008-09 he was far more prolific scoring twenty goals in eighteen starts and six games from the bench for the Ipswich Youth team, and seven goals in seven starts and three games from the bench for their Reserve team. He also became part of the England Under-Sixteen squad that won the 2008 Victory Shield, scoring in the 2-0 win in the final against Scotland. He scored once in two appearances, after making his debut for them on 31st October 2008 and on 11th April 2009 in a 1-3 home defeat by Doncaster Rovers he made his first team debut, at the age of sixteen years and eleven days, for the Tractor Boys, as a sixty-sixth minute substitute for Velice Sumulikoski, and, two days later, he was a seventy-third minute substitute for Pablo Counago in a 1-1 draw at Bristol City. The 2009-10 season saw him blossom even further. At club level he scored six goals in six starts for the Youth team and four goals in three starts in the Reserves, while in the Championship League he made a starting debut in the League Cup in a penalty shoot out win after he had scored twice, in the eleventh and fifty- ninth minute of a 3-3 away draw with Shrewsbury Town on 11th August 2009. He made his starting League debut on 18th August 2009 in a 1-3 home defeat by Crystal Palace. He went on to score four League goals in in nine starts and seventeen games from the bench, two goals in one start and one game from the bench in the League Cup and failed to score in one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup. He also scored three goals in three starts and five from the bench in other games. He made his England Under-Seventeen debut on 26th October 2009 and went on to score nine goals in thirteen games. He was part of the team that won the UEFA European Under-Seventeen Football Championship in 2010 and he also won the UEFA European Under-Seventeen Football Championship Golden Player Award and was selected for the UEFA European Under-Seventeen Championship Team of the Tournament. He scored both ehe England goals in a 2-1 Semi-Final win over France on 27th May 2010 at the Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, and scored England's winning goal in the Final in a 2-1 win over Spain three days later at the same venue. Now a regular member of the Ipswich Town squad and after his outstanding performances in Liechtenstein, there were calls for his inclusion in the full Englanf team, despite his lack of experience. The 2010-11 season saw him score nine League goals in twenty-four starts and thirteen games from the bench, but he did not find the net in one F.A. Cup start and two starts in the League Cup and also one from the bench. He also scored twice in two other games and once in a single Reserve game for the Mariners. He made his England Under-Nineteen debut on 8th October 2010, scoring in a 6-1 win over Albania at Stade de la cite de l'oie, Vise in the EFA Under-Nineteen Championship Elite Qualifying Round, Group Eight, in Belgium, before being replaced by Benik Afobe. He was a replacement for Benik Afobe in the 4-0 win over Cyprus at the Stade Jacques Lechat, Malmedy two days later and he played a full game in the 1-2 defeat by Belgium in the same tournament on 13th October at Stade de la cite de l'oie, Vise. He took his final Under-Nineteen caps to four, in which he scored once, with a start on a 0-1 defeat by Germany in a friendly at B2net Stadium, Chesterfield on 8th February 2011, when he was replaced by Jordan Slew in the fifty-ninth minute. He made his first appearance for the England Under-Twenty-One side on 16th November 2010 at the BRITA-Arena, Wiesbaden, when he was a sixty-seventh minute replacement for Jack Rodwell. His second cap was also as a substitute in a on 24th March 2011 in a 4-0 win over Denmark at the Viborg Stadion, Viborg, when he replaced Daniel Sturridge with three minutes on the clock, but just four days later he gained his third cap, and had a full game, as England went down 1-2 to Iceland at Deepdale Stadium, Preston, in a friendly. On 21st January 2011, Wickham had signed a new contract with Ipsich which would keep him with the club until 2013. However, the new contract included a clause which would see him able to leave Portman Road if the Blues receive a bid of a specified size. Tottenham Hotspur were said to have first refusal on the seventeen-year-old regarding any potential future move. Wickham, who would be eighteen at the end of March, signed the new deal which extended his Town contract until the summer of 2013 and it was thought the offer would have to be in the £10-15 million. It was thought that Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United would also be interested parties. So, it had been widely canvassed that Wickham would be moving to an EPL side to realise his potential. On 29th June 2011, Wickham signed a four-year contract with EPL club Sunderland for an initial £8 million, but the fee could potentially be increased to £12 million over the contract, should all criteria be successful. After scoring for his new side in a pre-season friendly at Kilmarnock, he made his Sunderland debut as an eighty-second minute substitute for Sebastien Larsson, in the 0-1 defeat by Newcasle United at the Stadium of Light on 20th August 2011. While he featured regularly on the bench and from it, it was not until 22nd October 2011 that he made his starting debut in a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers at the Macron Stadium. A week later, he started in a 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa and celebrated with his first goal in the thirty-eighth minute. It was his only goal that season and the following week he sustained a knee injury after just five minutes and had to be substituted. He fell out of favour with Martin O'Neill, who had replaced Steve Bruce in early December 2011 and finished the season with just five League and two F.A. Cup Starts and eleven League and one League Cup appearances from the bench. He added two more Under-Twenty-One caps to his tally, when he played the first sixty-seven minutes of the 6-0 win over Azerbaijan in the UEFA Euro qualifying Group Eight on 1st September 2011 at Vicarage Road Stadium, Watford, when he was replaced by Martyn Waghorn, and then a 4-1 win over Israel in a friendly just four days later in which he came on as a substitute for Ross Barkley seventeen minutes before time, at Oakwell Stadium, Barnsley, to take his caps to five. He was still out of favour at the start of the 2012–13 season but he showed good form for the Sunderlans reserves and the England Under-Twenty-One side saw him back in the Sunderland first team squad for for their visit to Everton on 10th November 2012 and replacing Jack Colback in the final minute. He also came on as a half-time substitute in place of Steven Fletcher in a 1-2 loss at Carrow Road against Norwich City on 2nd December 2012, but his performance merited his inclusion in the starting team for the following game on 8th December 2012 in a 1-3 home defeat by Chelsea. However, with the recovery from injuryof regular striker, Steven Fletcher, he was again back on the bench, but his performances had been noted by Martin O'Neill and he did get his name on the scoresheet when he came from the bench to replace Carlos Cuellar in the fifty-seventh minute of the Third Round F.A. Cup tie at Bolton to score just three minutes later. It was his only goal for Sunderland that season and he had only started one League and one F.A. Cup Tie but had come from the bench in six League games and one F.A. Cup tie. On 8th February 2013, Wickham joined Championship side, Sheffield Wednesday, on a one-month loan. He made his debut on 9th February 2013, as a thirty-third minute substitute for Kieran Lee, in a 2–2 home draw against Derby County. He made his starting debut in the Championship in a 0-0 draw at Birmingham City, and was substituted for Jermaine Johnston after sixty-seven minutes. His first goal for the Owls came on 9th March 2013, in his final game of his loan spell, when his seventieth minute volley proved to be the only goal in a fine win at Leicester City. He had started four League games and been a substitute in two more. His return to the Stadium of Light saw him start two and make three appearances from the bench before the end of the season. He also added eight Under-Twenty-One caps to bring his tally to thirteen, with four games in the UEFA Euro Under-Twenty-One qualifying Group Eight and four friendlies. The first came at the Dalga Stadium, Baku in a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan, when he replaced Marvin Sordell after sixty-nine minutes on 6th September 2012 and four days later he started in a 1-0 win over Norway at Proact Stadium, Chesterfield, scoring his first England goal at this level two minutes before half-time, and playing seventy-seven minutes before making way for Tom Lees. The results took England to the UEFA Under-Twenty-One Championship 2013 preliminaries play-offs and home and away games with Serbia. On 12th October 2012 he came on as a seventy-eighth minute substitute for Marvin Sordell in a 1-0 win at Carrow Road, Norwich and four days later at Mladost Stadium, Krusevac, he replaced Nathan Delfouneso with one minute left on the clock, to score the winning goal five minutes into injury time and give him his second goal at this level. The friendlies started with a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland on 13th November 2012, in which he played a full game at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, scoring his third goal just on half-time. He was also on the mark for his fourth goal in a 4-0 win over Sweden on 5th February 2013 at the Bescot Stadium, Walsall, where he scored in the seventy-seventh minute after replacing Benik Afobe at half-time. The other two friendlies came in quick succession, the first on 21st March 2013 at Adams Park, High Wycombe in a 3-0 win over Romania, where Wickham was a late replacement for Wilfried Zaha with just three minutes remaining and four days later at the Amex Stadium, Brighton, he scored his fifth goal in the seventy-fourth minute before being replaced by Nathan Delfouneso three minutes later. In the close-season he took his caps to seventeen with three appearances in the 2013 European Under- Twenty-One Football Championship in Israel and one in a friendly international. On 5th June 2013 at the Broomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, England were defeated 0-1 by Italy, with Wickham playing the first eighty-two minutes before being replaced by Nathan Delfouneso, then three days later at the HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva they were again defeated, this time by 1-3 by Norway, with Wickham starting before being replaced at half-time by Jason Lowe. Another defeat, this time by hosts Israel by 0-1 three days later at the Teddy Stadium, Jersualem, in which Wickham played a full game, brought England's interest in the tournament to an end. He scored his sixth goal at this level in the forty-ninth minute before being replaced by Harry Kane nine minutes later in a 6-0 win over Scotland at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 13th August 2013. He started one and came on as a substitute in four League games and twice came on as a substitute in League Cup games in the early months of the 2013-14 season for Sunderland, scoring twice in the 4-2 League Cup win over MK Dons after coming on in place of Ji Dong-Won after forty-nine minutes, with goals in the eighty-seventh and eighty-ninth minutes on 27th August 2013. On 1st November 2013 Wickham was taken on loan by Sheffield Wednesday for the rest of the calendar year. The next day he started against Reading at Hillsborough and celebrated with a goal in the fifty-seventh minute in a 5-2 win. Goals came regularly, with one in the ninetieth minute of a 1-2 home defeat by Huddersfield Town on 23rd November 2013 and he added two more in the ninth and twenty-fifth minutes of a 2-1 home win over Leicester City on 3rd December 2013, before scoring in four consecutive games as Wednesday won 1-0 at Watford, drew 1-1 at Charlton Athletic, defeated Blackpool 2-0 and Leeds 6-0 at home to take his tally to eight in eleven starts, after his loan had been extended until the end of January 2014 on 31st December 2013. However, he was recalled on 27th January 2014 but only made one substitute appearance in each of the League and F.A. Cup before he was loaned to Leeds United on 26th February 2014 until the end of the season. He made his debut on 1st March 2014 in a 1–1 draw away at Queens Park Rangers. He started just five League games and did not find the net. He was recalled to the Stadium of Light on 24th March 2014 and two days later he started for Sunderland in a 1-2 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield. He went on to start nine League games and he hit a rich seam of goals when he found the net in three consecutive matches, on 16th April 2014 he scored twice in a 2-2 draw at Manchester City, once in a 2-1 win at Chelsea three days later and two more in a 4-0 home win over Cardiff City on 27th April 2014. Wickham became a virtual ever-present in the 2014-15 season and on 9th December 2014 he signed a new more than four year deal with the club which contracted him to the club until the summer of 2019. At the end of the 2014-15 season he had scored eleven goals in forty-nine starts and thirty games from the bench in the League, one goal in two starts and six games from the bench in the F.A. Cup and three goals in one start and three games off the bench in the League Cup.