I have to admit that when Sunderland signed two experienced international left-backs in the summer, I thought it would be curtains (sorry, not a pun, despite his hairstyle) for Dennis Cirkin.
He’s a player I’ve really fallen in love with over the years and I’ve really enjoyed watching his journey from being a League One rookie to a Premier League starter, but given his problems with his injured wrist — particularly over the summer and at the start of the season — it felt like it would only be a matter
of time before he moved along.
There wasn’t just that, though, because there is of course still the elephant in the room that is his contract situation. Like Dan Neil — who has now of course moved on elsewhere — Cirkin’s current deal expires over the summer, or so we are led to believe, so it felt as though the club may choose to move him along, perhaps in January.
Thankfully, I’m glad that I can say that hasn’t been the case. Instead, whilst Masuaku and Reinildo were off playing for their countries at the AFCON tournament, Dennis put a string of solid performances in and showed that he really belongs at this level. He hasn’t looked out of place and has just kicked on once again, which of course I’m totally delighted by.
Let’s not forget that this is a lad who was incredibly highly rated by José Mourinho at Spurs, and over the summer was called into the England U21s squad for the European Championships. Yes, he may have arrived at Sunderland as a young boy lacking in experience, but he’s always had the ability that could see him playing at a much higher level, and if anything, the question marks have been surrounding his fitness.
So really, nobody should be surprised that he’s played well in the team. What is perhaps more surprising is that his form, coupled with the great season we’ve had out of Reinildo so far (barring a small handful of hiccups), has led to the departure of the other left-back that we signed in the summer — Arthur Masuaku.
Masuaku will have had many good offers in the summer to go elsewhere, but something must have been sold to him in order for him to head to Sunderland instead. He would have been under no illusions over the competition in the squad, but clearly he felt he could come back to the Premier League and thrive. His chance actually came pretty early on into the season — after a fine showing as a centre-half in our League Cup defeat to Huddersfield, a red card for Reinildo against Aston Villa copped him a three-game ban, and that was Arthur’s chance to shine and stake a claim for a regular starting berth. Instead, he did anything but, and that little three-game run in the side was obviously enough to make the club realise that he probably wasn’t up to the standards required. He’s had injuries and, of course, the AFCON tournament kept him out of contention, but he was nowhere near.
All of that coupled with the great run that Cirkin had in the side over the festive period and into January must have made up the minds of the Sunderland bigwigs — the young, energetic upstart is seen as the strongest contender for Reinildo’s shirt, and given he’s fully aware of the demands of playing under Régis Le Bris, sticking by him makes the most sense.
On Saturday at West Ham, Reinildo had a shocker. He should have been sent off just before half-time and you have to think that the referee did him and us a favour, probably out of pity as we were already getting dusted three-nil. If a young player had made that tackle which should have seen him bag a second yellow we’d have been calling them naïve and inexperienced, so it was disappointing to see such bad decision-making from a lad who has seen and done it all in the game. He was, understandably, hooked at the break, and I thought we actually looked much better with Cirkin in the left-back spot. He once again reminded everyone watching that he’s not here to make up the numbers, and he wants to be starting games for Sunderland in the Premier League.
With Masuaku out of the picture, he’s gained that trust from his manager. Now it’s up to him to really push Reinildo day after day in training, and then, who knows? We could be talking about Cirkin edging himself ahead of one of our best players, which would have seemed unthinkable earlier in the season. At worst, he’s going to help to get the very best out of Reinildo, as having strong competition all over the pitch is vital.
Haway Dennis, lad — get that new contract signed, and knuckle down. The future is bright!
