Expectations and optimism continues to ramp up around QPR after a first opening day win in five years, and the capture of former Sunderland left back Dennis Cirkin on a free transfer last week certainly won't do anything to quell that.

Facts

Dennis Cirkin has an eclectic background – count the potential national teams in this lot. Born in Dublin, brought up in London and part of Tottenham’s youth set up, his parents are from Latvia and his late father was of Azerbaijani-Turkish descent. Still only 24, and measuring 6ft tall, Cirkin attended Wanstead High School while coming through the ranks at Spurs and has represented England at all youth levels to U20. Twice, in 2025, he was called up to Lee Carsley’s England U21 side but had to withdraw due to medical issues. More recently he’s been training with the full Latvian national team.

QPR were interested in the player when he was a junior at White Hart Lane but it was Sunderland, then just starting their rebuild back to the Premier League in League One, who took the plunge and signed him for undisclosed fee in the summer of 2021. He made his senior football debut for them later that week in a 2-1 third tier win at MK Dons where he played the first 73 minutes.

Cirkin quickly became a mainstay of that Black Cats side, with 37 starts and four sub appearances in all comps on the left side of the defence. The Mackems finished fifth and were promoted via the play-offs under manager Alex Neil, who then surprisingly walked out on them to join Stoke at the start of the following Championship season. No matter, Sunderland settled well to the new level and Cirkin clocked 21 starts and seven sub appearances.

It was in this season that his prowess as an attacking force from full back started to show through. He scored his first senior goal in a 2-1 home win against Wigan and also scored away at Cardiff and Millwall and a pair at West Brom to finish the year with five. Tony Mowbray’s side were beaten in the play-off semi-final over two legs by Luton, but injury was starting to take its toll on Cirkin at this point and he missed both games.

That unfortunately continued to be the case in 2023/24 when he managed just six starts and three sub apps but he was back with 33 starts and six sub apps, as well as three goals against Sheff Wed, Coventry and Watford as Regis Le Bris took them back to the top flight with a late play-off final win against Sheff Utd in 2024/25.

Sunderland qualified for Europe for the first time in 53 years on their Premier League return, but injuries once again restricted Cirkin to just five starts and five more runs from the bench as they finished seventh and beat Newcastle twice along the way.

Released from The Stadium of Light in the summer he now joins QPR on a free transfer.

Analysis Zac Bowles @TheLoftInsights

For the second time this window, QPR have announced the signing of a full-back with Premier League experience, and for the second time this window, it came out of absolutely nowhere (spare a thought for the amateur analysts out there…). What followed was a few days of frantic analysis, with most of my free time dedicated to watching footage of Dennis Cirkin. But this research has left me really excited; the more I watched Cirkin, the more I liked about him. So, what should you expect from our latest arrival?

A threat in the final third

Under Régis Le Bris, Cirkin was given the freedom to consistently venture forward into the final third; he recorded 2.86 touches in the opposition final third / 90 in the Championship 2024/25 season (top 10% of full-backs). With the left-winger in Sunderland’s 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 shape hugging the touchline, Cirkin would frequently drift in-field as he moved up the pitch, occupying the half-space.

From this position, Cirkin can make some intelligent runs in behind the opposition right-back, creating space to attack the byline. Here, he has the option of crossing or cutting the ball back to the edge of the box; in 2024/25, he registered 0.56 chances created / 90. In these central areas, Cirkin is also comfortable receiving the ball to feet to link up play.

Cirkin interacts well with his wide partner, using clever opposite movements to open passing lanes and disrupt the opposition, and his movement is very intelligent around the final third. With QPR showing an increased emphasis on wide combinations in our early games this season, I’d expect Cirkin to play in a similar role under Stéphan.

With the freedom to get into dangerous areas in the final third, Cirkin is also a goal threat as he crashes the box; he recorded 1.28 shots / 90 in 2024/25 (top 10% among full-backs), and produced 0.07 xG / 90 (top 25%).

A competent ball carrier

Cirkin is comfortable with the ball at his feet. He shows good attacking intention, constantly looking for the opportunity to carry the ball forward. While he is not the most technical dribbler, he finds and attacks pockets of space well, using bursts of acceleration to glide past opponents. His goal against Coventry is a great example; Cirkin carried the ball from his own half before finishing from distance.

As he approaches the final third, he generally times his release of the ball well after drawing in opposition, creating space for his teammates. However, he could improve his selection and accuracy of passes, as he can give away the ball in dangerous areas at times.

A solid defender

Cirkin is also very reliable in defence. In 2024/25, he recorded 7.91 defensive contributions / 90 (top 20%), with an impressive 3.02 tackles / 90 (top 10%). He is quick to get out to his man, and he generally times his tackles well.

Last season, Cirkin played 320 minutes in the Premier League. Watching him in action, he didn’t seem uncomfortable playing against elite opposition; against Man City, he was tasked with keeping Rayan Cherki quiet. Cirkin recorded 11 defensive contributions including six tackles, contributing to a well-fought 0-0 draw against Guardiola’s side.

Final verdict

Overall, I am really excited about this signing, and I honestly believe it could prove to be the signing of the summer. On a free transfer, we have acquired a very well-rounded profile. At 24 years of age, I believe Cirkin could already play for a leading Championship side, and he still has plenty of room for development. While there is a slight concern regarding Cirkin’s injury history - namely a problematic hamstring which required surgery in 2023/24 - I firmly believe he will have a significant impact for QPR, and his involvement should also elevate the game of players such as Koki Saito, who could develop a strong relationship with Cirkin.

Reaction

"After chatting with the CEO, the head coach and many people at the club, I feel like this is the right place for me - with the right ambition. They're very ambitious and that's something that aligns with me. I'm pretty much aligned with a lot of what the head coach has told me," he added. "His values, his morals. I can't wait to work under him. I'm super excited to meet the boys and get into training. I think it should be the obvious one, which is, for sure, the play-offs. I feel like everyone's got that thought in their head. I wanted to join this club because they have that vision - and now it's just about executing the vision." - Dennis Cirkin

“It is a pleasure to bring Dennis to west London. He brings experience of being promoted to the Premier League with Sunderland and further strengthens our defensive ranks. I want to thank our ownership for their continued backing of the football club as we do our best to give our supporters the most competitive squad possible.” - Christian Nourry

Opinion

I had a lovely piece in mind for this about QPR taking calculated risks on injury prone players when they know they’ve got a reliable 40-game foot soldier already in situ in their position – Tariq Lamptey could be brilliant if his leg doesn’t fall off, and if it does Amadou Mbengue is already one season deep into playing right back for us. Dennis Cirkin would probably still be with Sunderland in the Premier League but for his various problems with hamstrings, knees, wrist and concussions. If we get him fit and firing, great. If not, well we’ve already bought the more reliable Boy Kemper to play there. Of course, within two minutes of kicking the season off at Portsmouth on Saturday, Kemper gets a crunching ‘welcome to country’ that would eventually cut his debut short at 20 minutes and already we’re playing with Kealey Adamson out of position on that side on day one.

That speaks to another theme of the summer – two players for each position. The team still has single points of failure (Jimmy Dunne, Nicolas Madsen) but the depth is better than it has been for a while with Charles and Ward the goalkeepers, Mbengue and Lamptey the right backs, Kemper and Cirkin the left side, JCS and Edwards the left centre back, Varane and Kamara the DM, Kone and Burrell up front (this is rather compromised by the situations with Obikwu and Kolli) and of course no shortage of little lads wanting to play wide or ten – particularly with Chair and Poku now seemingly back fit, and really firing on Saturday. It’s not so long ago our full backs were being picked from Kane, Kakay, Hamailainen etc. It’s only a year since we were intending to start a season with Larkeche covered by Esquerdinha on the left. So, this is significant improvement. It was always going to take a few recruitment cycles and transfer windows to wrestle the mess Gareth Ainsworth had to deal with into a competitive squad and it feels like we’re well on the way now.

The fitness and injuries, like Lamptey, are rather the elephant in the room with Cirkin. The team certainly looks a lot fitter, a lot more physical, a lot more prepared for the Championship challenge than it did a year ago, but it is already picking up knocks to key players at a higher rate than you’d ideally like – Madsen missed Saturday, Kemper was subbed off, Obikwu hasn’t done pre-season. Will we look back in May and say it was unwise for a club with our fitness record of the last 24 months to have picked up quite so many players with quite such intimidating records in this area? Or will it prove a masterstroke of finding value in the market? If there wasn’t something wrong with them they wouldn’t be here etc etc.

If Cirkin does get fit he could be terrific. Still only 24 and, like Lamptey, a very effective attacking full back. The club was obviously deficient in these areas, and in goal, in 25/26 and has signed five players across the three positions to try and remedy that. Pierce Charles is already making a huge difference to how we play (terrifying at times but a different dimension to the attack from what we had before) and the idea of Cirkin and Lamptey being the ones receiving those long diags he uses to beat the initial press is a pretty mouth-watering prospect.

Our old mate Graham at the WTF Sunderland Podcast was pretty effusive in his praise: “He was unlucky to only play five games last year, he started off injured and we brought in a lad from Atletico Madrid who was dynamite. The start of the promotion year he was brilliant. The best I’ve seen him for Sunderland – fast, strong, defensively excellent, gets forward well and supports his winger, very good in the air. He’s very chilled out. The massive caveat is the fitness issues. I dare see we wouldn’t have got rid of him if that wasn’t the case. I’ve got a lot of time for him. If you can keep him fit I think he’s a brilliant signing for a Championship team, particularly with Lamptey on the other side that’s very exciting.”

The Sunderland message board also had a lot of love for him, and expressed surprise that he was coming to QPR which we’ll, ahem, take as a back handed compliment on this one.

These feel like ambitious signings to me. I’ve been saying all summer that with the strikers we’ve got, the squad we’ve put together, and the money we’ve spent doing that, then at the very least we have to be moving into the top half of the table this season and with the play-offs down to eighth that has to be the ambition. That’s only increasing with each passing pick up like this, and I don’t think we’re done yet either.

It feels like the mission has changed a little bit. A year ago it was a big point made at fans forums that we don’t loan players any more, we own our players, and we’re aggressively driving down the average age of the squad. Now we’re borrowing Glen Kamara. I think on Saturday you saw exactly why they’ve done that, but it’s still a departure. A year ago we were planning to start with Larkeche at left back covered by Esquerdinha, not because they were the best but because they were ours and we’re a development club. Now we’ve signed two players ahead of them and both will, you would think, move on. A year ago we went with Joe Walsh for the same reasons with the same drawbacks, now we’ve loaned Manchester City’s goalkeeper who we’ve little chance of ever signing permanently. Like Kamara, you saw at Portsmouth exactly why we’ve done that. Again, it’s a departure, and it’s money being spent.

That’s great. I’m bored as fuck. I want us to play good football and push on up this Godforsaken league. I want ambition. I'm sick of finishing 15th and being told it's great progress. Give me more days like Saturday, please. But it does come with added pressures. If you spend money on a play-off push and don’t go up, then what? We must be careful not to work ourselves into the same situation we were in after Mark Warburton left following an expensive failed attempt to go up in 2021/22. QPR had a plan before that and abandoned it because they caught glimpse of the play-offs through a hot run of form in a lockdown situation. It took us years to recover. We're certainly signing more sellable assets than that Johansen/Austin/Gray intake. Still, I do hope we're not going all in on red again just because you get in the play-offs for finishing eighth this time.

Buying players and acquiring assets is the easy part of the development/player trading model. We’ve done that now, and done it very well by and large. The squad is unrecognisable from where it was three summers ago under Ainsworth. Cirkin could be another terrific addition. But we are going to have to start selling for decent money as well pretty soon though.

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

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