Claudio Ranieri has spoken out about Enzo Le Fee’s departure ahead of his move to Sunderland.
The Black Cats are set to complete the signing of Enzo Le Fee from Roma, something that truly is a real coup by Kristjaan Speakman to bring in one of Regis Le Bris’ top targets this January.
The French midfielder has made it clear that Le Bris is the key behind why he has opted for a move to Wearside after he played under the Black Cats boss during his time at FC Lorient, but another key factor in the move is his current discontent in Italy.
It can’t be hidden that Le Fee has played substantially less than he expected at this stage of the 2024/25 season, having only been nine appearances across the Serie A and Europa League for Roma.
With him being set to join Sunderland, Roma boss Claudio Ranieri has spoken about Le Fee and the ‘misfortune’ of his situation at the club.
- READ MORE: Enzo Le Fee’s agent outlines why he ‘didn’t want to be anywhere else’ ahead of Sunderland move
Claudio Ranieri comments on Enzo Le Fee Sunderland move
Sunderland’s deal to sign Le Fee will initially see the Frenchman join in a loan deal that will become permanent if the Black Cats are able to seal promotion to the Premier League.
The deal shows that Roma are more than happy to part with the midfielder following his unimpressive half-a-season in Serie A, where he has been unable to notch much game time.
Roma boss Ranieri has spoken about his departure, per the Roma official website, where he said: “Le Fée should go, yesterday he said goodbye to me and I was sorry to let him go, to be honest.
“I told him: “You had the misfortune of changing coaches, I never got to try you, I had priorities”. But I liked the boy a lot. As I told you some time ago, those who aren’t happy, those who suffer too much to be here and I can understand that.
“He went to England because his coach was there who made him play, so he knew him and everything. We have two options. If they don’t buy him, we will have a player who will have played six months in the Premiership, a tough, fast, beautiful, important championship, so a more mature player will return.
“If Sunderland buys him, however, we will have made a positive capital gain for the Club.”
Regis Le Bris will be key to end Enzo Le Fee ‘misfortune’
Despite the six-month setback that Le Fee has undergone during his relatively short spell in Italy, there is every confidence that Le Bris is the man to get the very best out of the 24-year-old midfielder.
Le Fee arguably endured the best spell in his career so far for Le Bris’ FC Lorient in the 2022/23 Ligue 1 season.
Because of the fact that Le Bris has got the very best out of the large majority of the current Sunderland squad, there will be no doubting that the Black Cats boss will succeed in helping the imminent signing return to his very best, playing at Championship level where he could easily be head-and-shoulders better than any other players in the league.