Wickham returned to the Stadium of Light yesterday, with McDermott conceding to Black Cats boss Gus Poyet’s request for the 20-year-old to go back despite not completing 28 days of his loan at United.
Emergency loan rules governing players who sign on 93-day loans like Wickham state that loanees cannot be recalled in the first 28 days by parent club’s.
In Wickham’s case, that technically wasn’t until tomorrow, with the striker joining Leeds on February 26.
But McDermott, contacted on Sunday by Poyet - facing a striking crisis with just one forward available for tomorrow’s Premier League trip to Liverpool - says that letting him leave 24 hours early was the sensible option.
McDermott said: “Gus did right for me by letting me have Connor in the first place.
“If there’s a situation where we can get a player from Sunderland again, I want to make sure I do the right thing as far as we are concerned.”