'I'm ready' - Ex-Sunderland striker wants to end free agent limbo with transfer abroad

Former Sunderland striker Connor Wickham has outlined his desire to find a new club in the near future, and has admitted that he is open to the prospect of playing abroad.

The 31-year-old is currently a free agent having left Charlton Athletic at the end of last season. Wickham has been plagued by injury in recent years, and has spent several stints without a club since departing the Stadium of Light to join Crystal Palace in 2015. But the forward is eager to prove his worth, and is keen to embrace a new challenge now that he has worked his way back to full fitness. Speaking on Sky Sports News, he said: “I'm still only 31 really. It feels like I've been around for ages. I still want to push myself to be at a good level, at the top level. I've still got a few years left where I feel like I can still provide that.

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“I'm just going to keep training, stay fit. I've had options, but I feel like I want to challenge myself. I don't want to get to the end of my career and be like, ‘I wish I did this, I wish I did that’. I'm sure sooner or later the right opportunity will come along and it will be one that will fit me and challenge me.

“At some point, I've always thought one thing I would have loved to have done is go and play abroad. It could have happened a couple of times during my career. At the time, I wasn't really that open to it. But as I've got to where I am now, where I still am, it would be nice when you see players now playing abroad, and the different cultures, the different fans, and different life experiences as well. I'm open, but I'm ready.”

Wickham was on the books at Sunderland for four years, having signed from Ipswich Town in 2011. During that spell, he was loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United, and racked up 15 goals in 91 appearances for the Black Cats.