Tottenham Hotspur have been keen to add young and hungry talents with room to develop to their squad all summer. The acquisitions of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall give an idea of the club’s approach in the transfer market.
Very recently, the Lilywhites confirmed the sale of right-back Emerson Royal to AC Milan. After three underwhelming years, the club felt the time was right time to offload Emerson. Before that, Spurs also released Ryan Sessegnon after a tumultuous five years in north London. And by doing so, head coach Ange Postecoglou has been left with Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies as the recognised left-back options in his squad.
However, Udogie and Davies have been seemingly deemed insufficient to tackle the upcoming rigorous 2024/25 campaign where the club are set to participate in Europe after a year’s absence. Spurs have been interested in re-signing Sunderland left-back Dennis Cirkin this summer, perhaps to fill the gap in the squad left by Sessegnon.
However, according to a report from the Sunderland Echo, the £6m buy-back clause that Spurs had for Sunderland’s Dennis Cirkin has now expired.
Cirkin, who came through the youth ranks at Spurs, joined Sunderland in the summer of 2021 in search of regular game time. The left-back became an instant hit among the Stadium of Light faithful, playing a pivotal role in helping the Wearside club win promotion to the Championship in 2021-22.
Since helping the Black Cats win promotion to the Championship, the 22-year-old has endured injury problems. He was limited to only eight appearances in the Championship during the past campaign. Nonetheless, Cirkin’s return from injury recently has been a big boost to Sunderland, with the versatile defender starring in the win over Cardiff City at the weekend.
The aforementioned report says Cirkin’s £6m buy-back clause was valid until 30 June 2024, although Tottenham will be eligible for a percentage of the profit on any ensuing sale of the defender.
For a young player who has developed well at Sunderland since leaving Spurs a few years ago, Cirkin would been a snip at £6m for our club despite his injury struggles of late. In fact, our former boss Jose Mourinho had tipped Cirkin for a bright future in the game when the player was showcasing his talent in the academy setup.
“I couldn’t be at the game but I watched on video our youth team playing in the [UEFA Youth League], and we also have [Dennis Cirkin]. OK, he’s 17, but he’s a kid with a lot of quality, and I look forward to bringing him to train with us, and to help his development,” Mourinho had praised Cirkin back when the Portuguese was the Tottenham gaffer.
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Those words from Mourinho on the 22-year-old have been proven right to some extent. It is great to see Cirkin back from injury and playing for Sunderland again. However, had Spurs been proactive, we could have triggered the £6m buy-back clause in his contract and signed a long-term successor for the ageing Ben Davies.