thenorthernecho.co.uk

The Sunderland fringe player Le Bris says is 'now ready' & where he's likely to play

Reinildo has been ruled out for around a month after suffering a knee injury in the recent home defeat to Liverpool.

When the Mozambique international was unavailable during the Africa Cup of Nations, Le Bris tried a number of different options at left-back, with Cirkin starting three Premier League games but Trai Hume also featuring on the left of the back four.

Cirkin started last weekend’s FA Cup fourth-round win at Oxford United, with Le Bris having been impressed with the defender’s development since recovering from an injury issue of his own that ruled him out of the first four months of the season.

Cirkin’s progress persuaded Le Bris to allowed Arthur Masuaku, another left-back option, to join French club Lens last month, and the Sunderland boss is confident the 23-year-old is more than capable of handling himself in the top-flight.

“Dennis is in a good place,” said Le Bris. “The objective of the second part of the season was to find consistency on the pitch and in the training ground. We are more or less in this situation now.

“It's a good option for us now. We didn't test his consistency across ten or 15 games because he was behind Rei, but we'll see.”

READ MORE:

Xhaka back for Sunderland - but a blow as key defender is ruled out for a month

What Regis Le Bris says is 'really rare' in Sunderland star despite personal setback

Cirkin’s current contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and there are currently no talks taking place over a potential new deal.

Cirkin insisted he was comfortable with the situation when he spoke in the wake of last weekend’s FA Cup win, and Le Bris feels there is more than enough for things to play out and be resolved.

“He's [Cirkin] now ready to be competitive in the Premier League, which is good,” said Le Bris “After that, we have 12 games ahead [in the league] and we’ll see how it goes.”

Read full news in source page