Dennis Cirkin leaves Wearside having made both his and Sunderland's dreams come true
Dennis Cirkin announced his exit from Sunderland on Tuesday evening.
And then there were two. Of Sunderland’s double promotion-winning class, it is now only Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume who look likely to remain at the club next season. Patrick Roberts and Dan Neil have already departed, Anthony Patterson spent the second half of the most recent campaign out on loan at Millwall and is widely expected to seal a permanent exit over the coming weeks, and on Tuesday evening, in an emotional post to his social media channels, Dennis Cirkin confirmed that his time on Wearside has officially come to an end.
Of course, the full-back’s future in red and white has been the subject of intrigued discussion for some time. With his contract ebbing away over the course of a Premier League campaign that would eventually deliver European qualification, and with Reinildo Mandava firmly ahead of him in Regis Le Bris’ plans, it has felt for quite a while as if a departure had become something of an inevitability.
And yet, as expected as it was, there is still a sadness and a sting to Cirkin’s goodbye. Alongside a lengthy, heartfelt caption in which the defender writes of his gratitude and love for both Sunderland as a club and as a city writ large, he posted a video reliving his time in the North East, and it makes for misty-eyed viewing.
There he is, on his very first day, arriving at the Academy of Light with his buzz cut and his boundless potential, just a young lad desperately seeking a chance to prove himself in the senior game. There he is, marauding up and down the flank in the Championship - bamboozling wingers, scoring screamers against the likes of West Brom and Coventry City, popping up with a frankly absurd number of headed goals for a left-back. And there he is, walking out at Wembley last summer to play his part in an afternoon that will forever go down in Mackem folklore.
On the closing day of the season, after the final whistle against Chelsea, Cirkin - out on the pitch with his jubilant teammates - seemed to be making a concerted effort to drink everything in, to absorb the atmosphere and the magnitude of Sunderland’s achievement for, as it would transpire, the last time. In retrospect, it must have been a poignant moment for the defender, but make no mistake, his is a stint that should be reflected upon and revered by all of us.
Decades from now, when the tales of the past few years are eulogised ad infinitum and passed down gleefully through the generations, you would hope that Cirkin gets the recognition he deserves. He may not be as obvious a figurehead as a Luke O’Nien or possess a moment as immediately iconic as a Dan Ballard, but even if it is in a fondly cultish manner, you have to believe that the words, “Here, how good was Dennis Cirkin?” will be uttered countless times over countless pints, and met accordingly with countless smiles.
Where he ends up next remains to be seen. Injuries have, on occasion, been cruel and untimely during his spell with Sunderland, but if he can stay fit, there is no reason why he can’t become a highly valuable asset to any number of clubs - whether that be in the Championship, the Premier League, or perhaps even abroad.
If Cirkin’s plan all along was to arrive in the North East, announce himself as a proper senior professional, and develop into a well-rounded and heavily sought after full-back option, then there is no doubting that he has succeeded. The fact that his personal growth has coincided with Sunderland’s own reemergence from the doldrums only makes the whole process all the more pleasing.
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There’s a bit during the defender’s farewell video, shot just after his first Premier League start, in which he describes it as a “dream come true”. Perhaps nothing sums up his time on Wearside better. Five years ago, with little to no experience under his belt, he backed himself to not only join a club in League One, but to move from one end of the country to the other in an effort to ignite his career.
From there, he has been present every step of the way, a reliable - and often sublime - figure who has adapted first to the rigours of the EFL, and then again to the most challenging division in the world.
Cirkin leaves the Stadium of Light as a fully fledged Premier League footballer, and one who not only made his own dreams come true, but helped Sunderland to realise theirs as well.
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