Dennis Cirkin has left Sunderland for Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer, closing a five-year Wearside chapter that included promotion to the Premier League. This update, published on 17 September 2026, corrects and expands our original report on Dennis Cirkin’s transfer with his verified appearance and goal record, his farewell message in full, and the injury picture that shaped his final season at the Stadium of Light.
Update: Dennis Cirkin completes Queens Park Rangers move
Cirkin’s move to QPR is confirmed and complete. He signed on a free transfer after running down his contract at Sunderland, and he now becomes Queens Park Rangers’ sixth summer signing.
QPR finished 15th in the Championship last season, and the club’s recruitment team have moved to add Championship-proven experience to their squad. Cirkin fits that brief after five years in the north east, four of them spent learning the division inside out.
No contract length has been made public, so we are not speculating on how long the deal runs. What is certain is that Cirkin is now a QPR player, training at Loftus Road rather than the Academy of Light.
Five years on Wearside and a promotion campaign
Cirkin joined Sunderland in August 2021 and went on to make 127 appearances, scoring five goals. That is the accurate record: earlier reports crediting him with eight goals were incorrect, and we have corrected the figure here.
His most significant campaign came in 2024-25, when he started 36 Championship matches as Sunderland won promotion to the Premier League. Cirkin was a regular fixture at left-back throughout that season, part of a squad that supporters still regard as among the standout performers on Wearside in recent memory.
He arrived as a young left-back with promise and leaves as a player who started, and won, a promotion push. Few of Sunderland’s current squad can match that specific achievement.
Recent injury setback and Reinildo’s emergence
Cirkin’s final months at the club were disrupted by injury. He underwent surgery on a wrist problem that kept him out of Sunderland’s opening Premier League fixtures, denying him a run in the side just as the club reached the top flight.
While he recovered, Reinildo established himself as Sunderland’s first-choice left-back. By the time Cirkin was fit again, he found himself restricted to three starts across eight Premier League appearances, no longer the automatic pick he had been in the Championship.
That shift in the pecking order, combined with his contract situation, set the stage for his exit. Regis Le Bris had a settled option in Reinildo, and Cirkin’s path back into the team had narrowed considerably.
Is Dennis Cirkin leaving Sunderland?
Yes. Dennis Cirkin has left Sunderland and completed a free transfer to Queens Park Rangers, bringing his five-year spell at the club to a close. The move was confirmed once his contract expired, ending any uncertainty over his next step.
The departure follows a season in which he lost his starting place to Reinildo after wrist surgery, and it comes after he helped Sunderland win promotion the previous year. He leaves as a player with 127 appearances and five goals for the club, a record now free of the earlier goal-tally error.
Cirkin marked his exit with a lengthy farewell message to supporters, posted after the move was confirmed. It read in full:
The goodbye that once felt so far away is finally here :/ As a young boy, all I wanted was an opportunity. A chance to play, to prove to myself that I belonged. Sunderland gave me that, and then gave me so much more. Because this was never just about football. This city took me in and made me one of its own. The people here are like nowhere else: proud, loyal, full of heart and so passionate. That spirit gets into you. It changed me. Walking out at the SOL with that crowd behind me is a feeling I’ll chase for the rest of my life. The roar, the energy, the way it lifts us, that was always you. On the best days you carried us, and on the hardest days you never once turned your backs. I’ll never forget that. To this city and its people: thank you for taking a chance on me, and for making me feel at home from the very first day. Thank you. For the passion, the loyalty, the noise week after week. To represent you, and to wear this badge over 100 times, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. When I look back, I won’t remember the statistics. I’ll remember the heart and soul of our community. The feeling of a whole city behind one team. What we built back up together. I arrived a boy chasing a dream. I leave carrying this place, and all of you, with me forever 🙂 Signing out <3.
That message, from Dennis Cirkin, leaves little doubt about how he views his time on Wearside, even as he begins a new chapter at Loftus Road.
What happens next for Sunderland and Cirkin
For Sunderland, Cirkin’s exit confirms what his appearance list already suggested: Reinildo is now the senior left-back option, and Le Bris will plan his defence around that going into the new season. Our coverage of squad rotation under Regis Le Bris shows how the manager has already been adapting his selections without Cirkin in the picture.
For Cirkin, the focus now shifts to Loftus Road, where he joins a QPR squad rebuilding after a 15th-place finish and aims to establish himself as their preferred left-back. His wrist injury should not be a lasting concern once pre-season minutes build up his match sharpness.
Sunderland supporters will watch his progress at QPR with interest, given the role he played in getting the club back to the Premier League. His five years on Wearside are complete, but the story of his career moves on to west London.
