By Joe Ellis

16th Oct, 2022 | 8:09am

Tottenham in two-way battle to sign Sunderland starlet Dennis Cirkin - report

Tottenham Hotspur have targeted Sunderland left-back Dennis Cirkin for a potential January transfer move, according to The Sun.

The 20-year-old is a former youth player at Spurs but he wasn’t thought to be good enough last summer and the Black Cats, therefore, bought him for an undisclosed fee.

A year of impressing at the Stadium of Light, where he helped them to promotion last season, has seen him re-emerge on Tottenham’s radar as a transfer target come the January window.

Antonio Conte is not the only Premier League manager, however, that wants to sign Cirkin in January with Brentford also expressing an interest in the 20-year-old.

Thomas Frank sees the Sunderland man as a potential challenger and eventual heir to the throne of Rico Henry at the Community Stadium if he ends up leaving for a bigger move elsewhere.

Mistake

It seems like Spurs are now admitting that they shouldn’t have permanently sold Cirkin last summer now that he has gone on to achieve great things in the North East.

Alex Neil, who has now gone to Stoke City, deserves great credit for helping the youngster pick himself up after being kicked to the curb in North London as does Tony Mowbray who is now in charge at the Stadium of Light.

If Cirkin does decide he is to leave Sunderland in January, then it might be difficult for him to ignore his former club but when you look at the opportunities he could get, they are very limited.

Conte is happy to play Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon in rotation at left wing-back with other potential backups elsewhere so Cirkin would not see any game time.

At Brentford, meanwhile, he may be able to challenge Henry for a starting spot or even move forward to be a left winger if his attacking talents are unchained.

In other Tottenham news, this youth football expert has witnessed the Spurs academy first-hand and has been waxing lyrical about the talent on show.