Tottenham’s former academy star Dennis Cirkin played a key role in Sunderland’s return to the Premier League via the playoffs.
Cirkin signed for Sunderland in 2021, having never made a senior appearance for Tottenham, and has gone on to establish himself as the Black Cats’ first-choice left-back.
The Ireland-born defender was instrumental in Sunderland’s promotion last season, making 39 appearances and playing every minute of their dramatic playoff campaign.
The 23-year-old is now set for his first taste of Premier League football, but it might not be with Sunderland following recent developments at Tottenham.
Tottenham prepare bid for Cirkin
Cirkin’s progress in the North East has been tracked by Tottenham, who are in dire need of club-trained players to satisfy a UEFA Champions League quota.
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The rules state that clubs competing in Europe’s premier competition must have a minimum of four players who have spent at least three full seasons with the club between the ages of 15 and 21, with Brandon Austin the only senior player who currently fits this criteria at Tottenham.
Due to this, and the young defender’s growth in the North East, Tottenham are keen to sign Cirkin this summer, and are lining up a formal offer, as reported by The Northern Echo (22 June).
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King – speaking exclusively to Tottenham News – believes Sunderland would accept a bid of £20million for Cirkin, but is unsure whether the deal is in the Lilywhites’ best interest.
“Cirkin is still only 23 years old,” King said.
“Therefore, it would probably take a bid of about £20m for Sunderland to accept. I know they need to address this issue, but they’re linked with Kyle Walker-Peters as well.
“Tottenham don’t want to sign too many players in that position because they’ve already got quite a bit of coverage in the full-back areas.
“If Tottenham can bring through some Under-21 players to address that issue, that would be a much cheaper option than going out and buying a player like Cirkin. I wouldn’t think Sunderland would be too happy about it either.”
Tottenham need more support from the academy
Last season, Tottenham were docked two spaces in the Europa League squad for only being able to register two homegrown players, with Ange Postecoglou infamously leaving Djed Spence out of the squad for the first half of the campaign.
With Alfie Whiteman now departed, Tottenham are looking into potentially signing Kyle Walker-Peters and Cirkin to help solve that issue, but the longer-term solution lies within the academy.
Mikey Moore’s trajectory is a promising start, but Tottenham need more young players to come through the ranks to avoid this issue further down the line.