How will Florent Ghisolfi's arrival impact Sunderland?

Sunderland Echo

Phil Smith and BBC Radio Newcastle's Nick Barnes discuss as part of the On The Whistle live show from The Bridge Hotel Vaults, Sunderland

Transcript

00:00Floron Gisolfi, pronunciation TBC.

00:06So a couple of people are asking about this.

00:09So Rob says, do you think the recruitment of Floron Gisolfi

00:13was aided by the purchase of Enzo Le Fay from Roma in January?

00:17And Alan says, could he be the most significant sign of the window?

00:21So I'm sure everyone's up to speed this,

00:23but obviously Floron Gisolfi was sporting director at Roma last year,

00:27previously at Nice and at Lons.

00:31I think it's a matter of when, not if.

00:34I think obviously when you bring in someone from abroad at the moment,

00:37there's a lot of admin that you have to go through.

00:38So I think that will be confirmed probably sooner rather than later.

00:42I mean, I think this is a real sign from the club

00:45that they're not here to make up the numbers

00:46because the work, the contact book that he's going to bring,

00:50the knowledge of the European markets,

00:52the fact that he's left Roma and had other opportunities.

00:55I think the fact that he's coming into Sunderland

00:56shows that there's a budget and there's an intent there

00:59next season, which I think is quite exciting.

01:02And I think we're already seeing with some of the names

01:03that have been linked,

01:04Denise, goalkeeper Marcin Bulker,

01:07the Roma left-back Angelino.

01:08Now, obviously, getting these deals done

01:10is a completely different kettle of fish.

01:12But I think it's a sign that Sunderland are serious

01:15about not making up the numbers next season.

01:17But of course, if you have a structure that's working well

01:21and you put a new figure into that,

01:23there's obviously an element of risk, isn't there?

01:25Because you just don't know how it's going to go.

01:27This whole director of football is an interesting one

01:29because when you speak to Regis about the Enzo Le Fay deal,

01:32it clearly came out from, if he's telling the truth,

01:36he tentatively sent Enzo a text saying...

01:41How are you?

01:42Yeah.

01:43So-so.

01:45Literally, that's how this deal came about.

01:47And there was no involvement from...

01:49How do you pronounce his name?

01:51Gisolfi.

01:51There you go.

01:52He was not involved.

01:53Well, maybe.

01:54So, that narrative, that's going to be quite an interesting...

01:59I mean, he's going to get asked about this, obviously,

02:01now when the season starts, about how that all came about.

02:05And, you know, because he knew Regis LeBris from Lorient previously.

02:09They've worked together.

02:10That's what I was going to say.

02:11Rob, I totally forgot to answer your question.

02:12Sorry.

02:13I think they knew he's very well known to LeBris before January.

02:16He was the youth coach at Lorient.

02:19At Lorient, yeah.

02:19So, their relationship goes back a long way.

02:22They know each other really, really well,

02:23which tends to make you think that the Enzo Le Fay deal

02:26wasn't purely down to a couple of texts from Regis to Enzo.

02:32Are you, you know, do you fancy it sort of thing?

02:35But it's an interesting dynamic.

02:37And I think there's a...

02:40You're sort of looking at a picture developing at the club

02:43with Kirill being French-Swiss,

02:47Regis, French, Enzo, French,

02:50the new director of football, French.

02:52That he's building up...

02:55It's like a family, isn't it?

02:58He's leaning towards people he knows,

03:01people he respects,

03:03keeping it very in-house, if you like,

03:06in that respect.

03:08And look, I'm in no way belittling it,

03:11because up until now it's worked.

03:13And it'll be a very interesting relationship now

03:15between the new director of football

03:17and Christian Speakman as the sporting director,

03:21where are they drawing the lines about who does what

03:24in that relationship?

03:26Because until now, Christian Speakman has been very,

03:29very hands-on in terms of recruitment with Stuart Harvey

03:32and others.

03:35So now suddenly you've got another person in the mix

03:38who's very much clearly Kirill's person, Kirill's man.

03:41And that'll be...

03:44It's going to be a very, very interesting dynamic.

03:46But I think the way the Premier League has changed,

03:48probably it's needed.

03:51You know, the whole structure of the club

03:53has got to be much more professional.

03:55It's got to be much more...

03:57What was it?

03:59Brighton, I was reading about now, or Brentford,

04:01because we all know about the way that they recruit players,

04:04that one of those clubs, I think it might be Brighton,

04:06and are now going under the radar.

04:08Previously they were looking at 17-year-olds around the world.

04:10They're now looking at 15-year-olds

04:12because they know that other clubs aren't looking at 15-year-olds.

04:15They know that they can get a niche in the market

04:18by getting hold of 15-year-olds, 14-year-olds.

04:21They're always trying to stay one step ahead

04:23of the other clubs in the league.

04:25But there comes a point where, you know,

04:27that 10% advantage that you've got is gone.

04:31So Sunderland, you know, you can see why

04:33they're trying to professionalise the way they set up

04:35and bring in a director of football

04:38to spread the workload and so on.

04:41It is going to be interesting to see how that dynamic works

04:44and where they spread their net, if you like,

04:47in terms of the players that they're going to bring in.

04:50Shall we just have a moment to say cheers to Enzo Lafay, by the way?

04:52What a player.

04:53What a player.

04:58I mean, I think this is something that, to a degree, was inevitable

05:02and that had to happen because, you know,

05:05Sunderland have only been in the Championship for three years.

05:08It's only four years ago before the new ownership came in

05:12where the club, because of how long it had been in League One,

05:15was a bit of a shell.

05:15And if you think about the sheer amount of work,

05:18the sheer amount of responsibilities that Christian Speakman has,

05:21not just in terms of recruitment,

05:23which is obviously the thing we inevitably focus on,

05:25but on contracts, on the academy, performance and medical.

05:29It's not something that, at a Premier League level,

05:30he can realistically do on his own, is it?

05:33It's something that he needs support.

05:35But as you say, the interesting dynamic is,

05:37it's not unusual in football.

05:39Brentford had two sporting directors for a long time.

05:41Chelsea have two sporting directors.

05:43The unusual thing about this is,

05:46is that you're bringing one in after one's been in charge

05:49for a number of years,

05:50and you just don't know how that dynamic's going to go.

05:51So

06:04you

06:05you

06:10you

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