By Zach Lowy
Slightly below a 12 months later, Enzo Le Fée made his debut for Régis Le Bris’ Lorient B group, enjoying the complete 90 in a 2-0 defeat to Boulogne-Billancourt. Having minimize his enamel within the French fourth division, Le Fée would break into the primary group in 2019/20 underneath Christophe Pélissier and steer them to the Ligue 2 title. Lorient completed sixteenth of their first two seasons again within the top-flight earlier than deciding to advertise Le Bris to first-team supervisor in June 2022.
This supplied the impetus for Le Fée to unlock his lofty potential: solely Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi (49) and Neymar (47) created extra massive possibilities in France than Le Fée (41), who completed because the seventh-highest rated FotMob participant within the 2022/23 Ligue 1 season. Having scored 2 objectives and 10 assists in his first 106 Lorient appearances, Le Fée scored 6 objectives and 5 assists in 36 appearances and led Les Merlus to a Tenth-place end – their greatest placement in 9 years.
“For a very long time, Le Fée was clearly a technically gifted participant, however it was unclear the place he would thrive most on the pitch…he appeared a bit misplaced,” mentioned Baptise Reynaud, the co-host of the Le Classique Podcast.“His slight construct and lack of finish product had been additionally worrying, however underneath Le Bris, in an formidable facet that performed sensible, brave soccer, he was an absolute delight. He made the group tick because the No. 8 and all the time gave the impression to be in the suitable place on the proper time, with a bit of sprint of outrageous creativity every so often. Boasting smarts and technical capability, he’s a gifted passer who’s able to dictating play in a possession-based facet and taking dangers in the suitable areas on the pitch. He’s clever, versatile, and simply must be trusted to be the group’s technical chief in midfield.”
After 15 years at Lorient, Le Fée departed for fellow Brittany facet Rennes, becoming a member of for a price of €20 million. While Le Fée struggled to regulate to life on the Roazhon Park, Lorient didn’t cope with out his artistic spark and had been relegated. Le Bris parted methods on the finish of the 2023/24 season and joined Championship membership Sunderland, while Le Fée moved to Roma for €23 million, the place he managed simply 10 appearances. Precisely six months after penning a five-year contract with the Giallorossi, Le Fée determined to reunite with Le Bris at Sunderland, becoming a member of on mortgage with an choice to purchase for €23 million – an choice that shall be triggered ought to they obtain promotion to the Premier league.
On the face of it, it looks as if an enormous coup for the Black Cats. Le Fée has made 132 appearances in Ligue 1, he’s represented France on the U20, U21, and U21 degree and performed for them within the Olympic Video games, and he has demonstrated sufficient expertise to advantage not one, however two profitable transfers to 2 UEFA Europa League-level golf equipment. However simply what can Sunderland followers count on from him?
Le Fée is an all-action No. 8 who has the spatial consciousness to select up the ball in tight areas and evade strain along with his silky motion and nimble dribbling abilities, and while he solely stands 5’8” tall, he’s confirmed himself to be no slouch in bodily duels. Actually, solely Benjamin André (3.8), Andrei Girotto (3.4) and Laurent Abergel (3.2) accomplished extra tackles per recreation than Le Fée (3.1) within the 2022/23 Ligue 1 season. He makes use of his low centre of gravity to his benefit by turning on a six pence and leaving his marker in his wake with an elusive drop of the shoulder, a participant who thrives at attracting strain and shortly extinguishing the menace. He’s all the time pondering one step forward of his opponent, continuously scanning his environment and positioning himself nicely to obtain in a super location.
Le Fée is somebody who excels at driving ahead with the ball, using bodily challenges, slaloming previous markers and maintaining the ball glued to his ft while maneuvering previous bodily challenges. Even after a 12 months that has seen him battle to persuade at Rennes and Roma, he nonetheless ranks within the 97th percentile amongst midfielders for profitable take-ons per 90 (1.72) and the 94th for progressive carries per 90 (2.65). These attributes ought to match Sunderland’s counter-attacking model like a glove, and they need to additionally present them with one other dimension towards deep blocks. His beautiful imaginative and prescient and footballing IQ allow him to string the needle and tee up his teammate with a superbly timed move. Above all, he’s somebody who’s all the time trying to choose up the ball and make issues occur, and he’s greater than able to cementing a beginning spot as one of many No. 8s in Le Bris’ 4-2-3-1 formation. After working underneath 5 totally different managers in two totally different international locations over the previous 18 months, Le Fée shall be hoping to knuckle down and discover some stability underneath Le Bris.
Make no mistake: it is a assertion signing for Sunderland, who discover themselves locked in a heated promotion race, sitting fourth within the desk with 50 factors behind Sheffield United (52), Burnley (52) and Leeds United (52). At 24 years of age, Le Fée already confirmed his mettle as an excellent ball-winner, a deep-lying midfield creator, and a fleet-footed ball service, and there’s purpose to imagine that he’ll present a right away increase in high quality to Sunderland’s engine room.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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