Striker Jason Scotland says team-mate Connor Wickham will play for England one day. Scotland has been hugely impressed with the 17-year-old since joining the club from Wigan in a £750,000 deal last month.

Scotland said: “I couldn’t believe when I came into the club that he was that big and that young. He’s got a big future ahead of him, not just for Ipswich but England and he’s probably going to play for one of the top clubs in English football. But for now he needs to focus on doing well and being as good as he can be."

The Trinidad and Tobago international admits that the youngster already has the edge on him in some aspects of the game: “I’m not as big and strong as him! I’m not as good in the air and he will be more of a handful for defenders than me because he’s strong and powerful in the air.

“In training our defenders hate to play against him, they say ‘Connor, you should be on my team!’ because they know how dangerous he can be.

“He loves a battle and putting himself about but he’s a good player as well. He brings people into play. Playing week in and week out, he’s only going to get better.”

Scotland, who was convinced Town ought to have been awarded a first half penalty on Saturday when Wickham was felled by Gabor Gyepes, is pleased with the way his Town career has started but says he’s not yet fully fit: “I’m delighted, that’s two goals in five games.

“It’s been all right, we’re second in the table, we’re playing decent football and we just want to keep our foot on the pedal and do as well as we can and see where that takes us.

“Fitness-wise I’m getting there, I don’t want to say I’m at top fitness but I’m getting there. It’s taking me a lot of time to recover because we’re playing Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday and when you’re not fit you tend to recover slower and when you’re fit you recover faster, so it’s taking me a little more time to recover with the games coming thick and fast.”

Meanwhile, released keeper Richard Wright is reportedly close to joining Hull City. The 32-year-old, who was training with George Burley’s Crystal Palace over the summer, was linked with Sheffield United over the weekend.

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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