Just asked a Sunderland fan I work with with about this. He seems to think there's no way they'd let Wickham go permanently, maybe on loan, and that he's only been recalled because of an injury to Fletcher.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25911602
According to BBC Forest are about to sign a striker from Olympiakos, surely they cant be signing Wickham as well...