Sunderland left-back Dennis Cirkin has suffered another setback after sustaining an injury in training.
Dennis Cirkin has gone through a torrid time since being forced off at half-time with an ankle injury on the final day of the last season.
He’s only made three substitute appearances since the start of September because of an ongoing hamstring problem that is proving difficult to fix.
Despite attempting to step up his training over the festive period, the defender was forced to scale things back after suffering more pain.
As a result, he now needs another series of scans that could rule him out of action for a prolonged spell.
Following this significant blow to the Black Cats, Michael Beale has provided an update on Cirkin as well as attacking midfielder Bradley Dack, who faces at least two to three weeks on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury in the 1-0 victory over Hull City.
Michael Beale provides Dennis Cirkin and Bradley Dack injury update
Sunderland are preparing for an FA Cup clash against their arch rivals Newcastle United this weekend and Beale has revealed the latest on two of his injured stars.
Speaking ahead of the match, he said: “Bradley and Dennis aren’t going to be available, we’re going to be missing them for a while,
“Bradley has a hamstring injury that will be around four weeks at best, but that’s probably the best possible diagnosis that we could have got.
“Dennis didn’t feel quite right when he came back to training and so we’re going to go through the process of getting the scans, and then we’ll give feedback when we can.”
Beale would have liked to have a fully fit squad to choose from but this injury setback to Cirkin is undoubtedly a big blow to the 43-year-old.
Cirkin’s injury setback is a huge blow
Under the tutelage of Tony Mowbray last term, Cirkin was a revelation in defence, weighing in with five goals in 28 Championship appearances from left-back.
While he was phenomenal going forward for Sunderland, he also struck up an excellent partnership with Jack Clarke, who benefited from his overlapping runs.
The 21-year-old equally showed his quality as a defensive machine, ranking in the top 13% against his positional peers in the division last term for interceptions and top 26% for clearances, as per FBref.
Cirkin was developing into an all-encompassing left-sided defender, who was difficult to beat defensively and a huge threat in the opposing half.
In his absence, the likes of Trai Hume and Niall Huggins have stepped up, but there is no doubt that Sunderland have missed his dynamism down the left, and Beale will welcome him back with open arms once he returns.