Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Dennis Cirkin back to north London in the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by The Sun, who claim that, despite having sold the left-back to Sunderland as recently as the summer of 2021, Fabio Paratici is now interested in activating a £6m clause to bring the 20-year-old back to north London.
The report goes on to state that Brentford are also tracking the England U20 international, as Thomas Frank believes the full-back could be a long-term replacement for Rico Henry - should the 25-year-old defender leave the Gtech Community Stadium.
Paratici can amend Nuno's mistake
Considering just how highly rated Cirkin was at Tottenham prior to his sale under the management of Nuno Espirito Santo last year - with Jose Mourinho stating his belief that the 20-year-old was a "kid with a lot of quality" during his time in charge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - it is not difficult to see why Paratici would be keen to bring the left-back home.
Indeed, the £1.8m-rated defender highly impressed over his 37 League One appearances in 2021/22, helping his side keep nine clean sheets, providing two assists and creating two big chances, as well as making an average of 1.8 tackles, one interception, 2.5 clearances and winning 58% of his duels per game - playing a key role in the Black Cats' promotion to the Championship.
The £3.4k-per-week talent has continued this fine form over his nine second-tier fixtures so far this season, having already scored one goal, registered one assist, created one big chance and helped his side keep two clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.6 interceptions, 1.4 tackles, 2.7 clearances and winning 5.8 duels - at a success rate of 56% - per game.
These returns have seen the player who Josh Bunting dubbed "immense" average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.92, currently ranking him as Tony Mowbray's ninth-best performer in the Championship - with the defender helping the ninth-placed Mackems get off to a fantastic start to life back in the second-tier.
As such, while it is true that Antonio Conte currently has the options of Ryan Sessegnon and Ivan Perisic at left-wing back, as well as Destiny Udogie joining the club at the end of the season after the completion of his loan spell at Udinese, it is nevertheless clear for all to see that Cirkin would be well worth bringing back to the club for a figure of just £6m.
Indeed, even if the England youth international would not go on to become a first-team regular under the 53-year-old Italian, should he continue his fine form in the Championship this season, Paratici would more than likely be able to move the full-back on for a considerably larger fee than £6m - something that would amend Nuno's big mistake in moving Cirkin on.