Sunderland’s outstanding performance in their first season back in the Premier League has multiple components.
Many of them revolve around the carefully curated crop of players who were signed after promotion from the Championship was secured. You can take your pick from a list which includes Granit Xhaka, Robin Roefs, Omar Alderete, Reinildo, Noah Sadiki, Habib Diarra, Chemsdine Talbi and Brian Brobbey, and argue about who has had the greatest impact.
Added to that are the players who have confidently
stepped up from the promotion-winning squad – Trai Hume, Dan Ballard and the recent emergence of the Premier League version of Chris Rigg.
Despite all the claims that all those players have, is there one player who has had a greater influence than the mercurial Enzo Le Fée?
In January 2025, Sunderland pulled off one of the most improbable transfers of modern times when the connection between a struggling talent in Serie A at Roma and a relatively unknown coach in the Championship combined to bring a player, who should have been beyond the reach of any Championship club, to Wearside. It was the personal connection, forged between Régis Le Bris and his protégé, that was crucial in persuading his creative countryman to swap the balmy Italian climes for wintry Wearside.
Le Fée quickly established himself as a fan favourite, helping the club to a memorable double over the ‘it isn’t a proper derby’ neighbours from Teesside, with the deft skill and glorious touches that left opponents bemused.
Injury interrupted his ascension to Sunderland hero but he returned in time to deliver the pinpoint corner from which Dan Ballard achieved immortality by disposing of Coventry in the dying moments of the play-off semi-final. That image of him kissing the ball before he placed it on the corner quadrant is simply iconic.
The play-off final victory triggered his permanent transfer to Wearside and he briefly became the club’s record signing, before Kyril Louis-Dreyfus embarked on a recruitment campaign that took the football world by surprise.
As the club began their first season back in the top flight, Le Fée’s place in the team was uncertain, usurped by new and exciting talents in midfield and on the wing. It seemed that the creative Frenchman would have to settle for a place on the bench, until an injury to Habib Diarra provided an opportunity for Le Fée to reclaim his place in the starting XI.
And he has seized that chance with both hands. The Panenka against Brentford aside, the headband-adorned creative force has stood up to everything the best players in the Premier League have thrown at him.
Le Fée is the epitome of a Régis Le Bris player. Yes, he is capable of sublime moments of skill – but he knows how to graft. He tackles, he harries, he chases, he wins back possession. And, when the opportunity arises, he creates – in a manner that few Sunderland players I have witnessed in over 50 years of following the club have been capable of doing.
On Sunday, despite obviously not being fit to start, he was introduced in the dying embers of the most important fixture left to play. Released to the byline, Le Fée chose to hold on to the ball as defenders gathered, and held on to it longer, when everyone expected him to deliver the ball. Only when Brian Brobbey sneaked in front of Tino Livramento did Le Fée deliver a cross which nutmegged two Newcastle defenders.
The rest is history.
Enzo Le Fée is 26 years old – a couple of years younger, and the club would undoubtedly be fending off interest from the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea when the season ends. That may still come to pass, and there are likely to be some big European clubs interested but, hopefully, we will still be enjoying our little midfield maestro for several seasons to come.
The relationship that grew between a promising young coach and a prodigiously talented young player at Lorient may yet prove decisive in determining whether Le Fée will don the red and white shirt when the season starts again in August.
Like the many lost souls whose careers have been rejuvenated under this regime, I sincerely hope that he will.
Because we’ve got Le Fée, and I just don’t think you understand.
