Dennis Cirkin is a ‘major doubt’ for Sunderland’s clash with Plymouth Argyle this weekend.
That’s according to the Sunderland Echo, who have suggested that the defender could miss a number of matches due to injury.
Dennis Cirkin had comfortably established himself as a regular for the Black Cats in recent seasons and had barely been challenged by Niall Huggins at the start of the current campaign.
However, the left-back suffered a hamstring injury back in September and had been replaced by the Wales international ever since. Huggins has really impressed for Sunderland over the last couple of months and Cirkin was expected to only return to the team due to Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien’s suspensions against Birmingham City.
After a couple of cameo appearances, the 21-year-old was named in the starting line-up to take on a more central role against the Blues. However, Cirkin was pulled from the squad during the warm-up after suffering a further hamstring injury.
Following the game, Tony Mowbray said: “Ultimately it’s his hamstring. He trained yesterday and said that he felt it after training. When he woke up this morning it felt fine, good – so we decided to push on.
“He then went and did the warm-up and said he could feel it again, so we didn’t want to risk it again. He’ll go and have a scan tomorrow and we’ll see what it is. It’s obviously frustrating for us but great for Nectar [Triantis].”
Cirkin has had two weeks off due to the international break, but it now looks like he still won’t be available against Plymouth. The report also claims he is a major doubt for ‘those [games] that follow’.
Can Dennis Cirkin win his place back in the Sunderland squad?
If his previous injury is anything to go by, then we could potentially not see the return of Dennis Cirkin until 2024.
It’s a real shame for the full-back because he had been playing brilliantly this year, bagging an important brace against West Brom in April that helped push them into the play-offs.
Cirkin will have been determined to win back his place in the team against Birmingham and the Christmas period could have been the perfect time to do it, however he faces a huge challenge now if he isn’t to return until the new year.
While I really like Niall Huggins, Cirkin is much better all-round player and I certainly think we miss him in his absence. But his 22-year-old teammate definitely isn’t a bad alternative.