Sunderland’s hopes of automatic promotion slipped away some time ago but if they can seal a Premier League place via the playoffs it will be just as sweet, and also come with that big day out at Wembley.
Régis Le Bris has his side 4th in the table, and there’s a lot of hope around the club that this can be the season they leave the Championship… this time going up instead of down.
Ahead of the play-offs, Le Bris has been speaking to the French media, and one of the questions was how his Sunderland side are approaching it.
French newspaper Ouest France quote the manager as saying: “What’s essential is to have the best players available and fresh. For the past five matches, we’ve been rotating players and recovering injured players. Appetite comes with eating. I hear the expectations. It’s not undeserved, it’s a reality.”
Enzo Le Fée arrived at Sunderland on loan from AS Roma in the January transfer window. He had a quick impact before a hamstring injury stalled things. The 25-year-old has been working to build back his influence.
Asked what the midfielder has brought to Sunderland, Le Bris said: “He’s a great teammate, an average man in the street, even though he came from Roma. He has humility, with his qualities for playing under pressure, for being creative, for defending.
“He exemplified my thinking on football. He’s a midfielder who played wide left. He’s coming from Roma, he’s not in his preferred position at Sunderland, and he’s happy. It’s great, isn’t it?”
Should Sunderland win the play-offs, Le Fée’s loan will be converted into a permanent transfer from Roma.
