Wickham desperate to shine at Sunderland

The 20-year-old striker has recently returned  to the Stadium of Light from a successful temporary stint at Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday, where he scored eight goals in 11 appearances.

Sunderland coach Gus Poyet decided to recall Wickham at the end of January due to an Achilles injury to Steven Fletcher, and the England Under-21 international has made two appearances from the bench since returning.

It is nearly three years since Sunderland paid a reported £8 million fee to Ipswich for Wickham's services, but he has just a solitary Premier League goal to his name.

But Wickham remains convinced that he can be a success in the top flight, even if that means another spell on loan to continue his development.

"I've got nothing to lose," he told the Northern Echo. "I've not been playing (for Sunderland), so whatever time I get on the pitch I've just got to do what I'm told to do the best I can. That's what I tried to do on Saturday (against Southampton in the FA Cup).

"I'm back from my loan and I've been involved a couple of times so whatever minutes I get on the pitch are about proving to the manager that I should be on from the start.

"The Premier League is better than any league in the world so if I can play here that's my main goal. It's down to the manager whether I'm going to be involved in the games or not. Hopefully if I'm not I can go back out on loan.

"I believe I can be a success here, it's just a matter of getting minutes on the pitch. All I can do is try and score. I did that on Saturday and I'll do it every game.

"I'm 21 next month so I've still got plenty of time in football ahead of me. I've got a year and a half on my contract here so my main aim is to get into this team, push it forward and get us away from the bottom of the league."