AS Roma manager Claudio Ranieri has admitted he is sorry to see midfielder Enzo Le Fée departing this month as he heads to Sunderland.
Tuttomercatoweb cover comments from the Roma manager today in which he admits he wouldn’t have minded Le Fée remaining in the Italian capital.
Le Fée is on the verge of completing a move to Sunderland, where he will reunite with manager Regis Le Bris, who he worked alongside in France.
The Black Cats have moved quickly this week to wrap up a loan deal for Le Fée that will see them pay his wages for the remainder of the season and be obligated to buy him in the summer if they secure promotion back to the Premier League.
The move to the Stadium of Light will bring an end to what has been a miserable time in Rome so far for the 24-year-old.
He joined Roma in the summer in a €23m deal from Stade Rennais but has struggled to fit in, making just six appearances in Serie A to date.
The situation has not improved for him under Ranieri, who arrived as interim boss in November following the sacking of Ivan Juric. Despite this being the case, Ranieri admits he’s sorry to see the midfielder heading to Sunderland.
“As for Le Fée, he should go. Yesterday he said goodbye to me, and I must say that I was sorry to let him go,” he said.
“I’m honest. I told him that he had the misfortune of experiencing a change of coach. I never had the opportunity to really try him, because I had to immediately establish priorities. But I liked the boy, and a lot. As I have already said before, those who are not happy to be here, those who suffer too much, I understand.
“Me too, many years ago, I left Roma for the same reason. In those days there wasn’t a long bench: there were the goalkeeper, the twelfth and the thirteenth. I was the fifth, the sixth, a full-back, and I asked myself: “What am I doing here?” So, I left. He did the same.
“He wants to play. He dropped down the ranks, like I did by going to Catanzaro in Serie B. He went to Serie B in England, where he found his old coach who knows him well and he will make him play.
“We have two scenarios: if they don’t buy him, a player who has spent six months in the Championship will return, a tough, fast, competitive and important championship. He will certainly be a more mature player. we will have realised a positive capital gain for the club. These were our assessments.”
