Latest news with #EnzoLeFée
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Official: Enzo Le Fée moves to Sunderland
Roma have confirmed the departure of Enzo Le Fée who joins Sunderland on a permanent deal following their promotion to the Premier League. 'AS Roma can confirm that Enzo Le Fée has completed his transfer to Sunderland. Advertisement The French midfielder joined Roma in the summer of 2024 and made 10 appearances in total with the team. On 10 January 2025 he moved to Sunderland on loan until the end of the season. After joining Sunderland, the English team secured promotion to the Premier League by beating Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final. Good luck with this new adventure in the Premier League, Enzo!'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Enzo Le Fée's move to Sunderland becomes permanent
Enzo Le Fée will not return to Roma in July. Sunderland beat Sheffield United 2-1 in the playoff final at Wembley to secure promotion to the Premier League. The French midfielder, who joined the English club on loan in January, will be signed permanently. Advertisement In fact, the obligation to buy was introduced in the event of promotion at the end of the season, which happened today. Roma will receive €18 million, €6 million in bonuses, €2 million of which are easy and €4 million dependent on Sunderland remaining in the Premier League, and 10% of the capital gain. About the same amount that the Giallorossi paid Rennes last summer to buy him. Sunderland secured the victory in injury time thanks to Watson's goal. Sheffield had taken the lead in the first half, then Sunderland equalized with 15 minutes to go.
Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Enzo Le Fée: from prison to Wembley — rise of unique Sunderland star
In the corner of a footballing cauldron, the 5ft 7in Enzo Le Fée, from a village of 7,000 people just outside of Lorient, bends down and picks up the is 20 seconds from the end of 212 minutes of the Championship play-off semi-final between Sunderland and Coventry City and the aggregate score is tied. He had already placed it in the corner area, just away from the corner flag, but there is a final moment of intimacy. Le Fée brings the football to his lips and kisses it. Why? 'Because the ball is like a wife,' he says. 'You know, you love to caress.'The giant clock at the Roker End of the Stadium of Light ticks towards the very last second of
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sunderland are (almost) in wonderland but will the Blades burst bubble?
'Til the End'. That was the message that flashed up on the Stadium of Light's advertising hoardings as Enzo Le Fée lined up a corner with three seconds left in extra time. Back at the halfway line, both managers were scribbling out lists of penalty takers. Sunderland, having produced an early knockdown by winning the first leg of this Championship playoff semi-final, had spent much of the previous 121 minutes and 57 seconds of Tuesday's second leg against Coventry on the ropes. Yet here they were. Le Fée lifted the ball towards the near post, where Dan Ballard mistimed his leap spectacularly, ending up in a sort of crouched star jump as the ball deflected off his head, on to the crossbar, and into the net. The pin-drop silence was replaced by an almighty roar, a collective outpouring of relief and joy that seemed to move in waves as the home fans realised what it all meant. After 15 seconds of letting the crowd be heard (and watching Ballard struggle to get his own shirt off), Sky's Gary Weaver picked up the mic. 'An incredible noise that can almost be heard at Wembley!' The playoffs are good, aren't they? Fans of Frank Lampard's Coventry probably won't agree this morning, having seen their team concoct but narrowly fail to execute a winning gameplan over 210 minutes of football. 'We're not bitter, but we were the better team over the two matches,' sighed FLC's manager Frank Lampard. Not bitter, just better. But it's Sunderland who are heading south to face another northern powerhouse in red and white stripes. Sheffield United took a slightly different approach to booking their final slot, battering Bristol City 6-0 on aggregate. And just like the upcoming Bigger Vase final between Tottenham and Manchester United – two sides only a couple of rungs up the big league ladder – this will be a showdown where somehow, one of the teams has to win. Sunderland's playoff record is, in a word, bad. Since being sent down to the third tier by Gillingham in 1987, when playoffs involved teams just above the relegation zone (*gently nudges Premier League suits*), the unlucky Black Cats have played in seven playoff campaigns and only won the final once, in League One three years ago. Beat that, Sheffield United! Ah … the Blades have made the playoffs nine times but have never been promoted – losing and failing to score in four separate finals. The stoppable force meets the movable object at Wembley in 10 days' time, but who really wants to go up anyway? The last two playoff winners are Southampton – who finally surpassed Derby's record low Premier League points total last Saturday – and Luton, who will spend next season in League One. Perhaps it's not quite so clear-cut, though. Since the playoff final became a one-off game in 1990, 35 teams have won promotion via that route, with 20 of those sides coming straight back down. OK, it's not a stellar record, but bear with us. Taking the aforementioned 2008 Derby vintage as a halfway marker, the survival rate of playoff winners is actually better in recent years. Before Luton and Southampton blotted the copy book, the previous four playoff winners were Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa – all of whom have survived and even thrived in the top tier. There is a path that leads from Wembley to Premier League security, it's just getting harder to navigate without a long-term plan and/or buckets of TV cash. Not that anyone in Sunderland, from parents booking train tickets to kids replicating 'the Ballard' in the school playground, will care too much about that today. My dream now is coming to an end. You have to reinvent yourself. I'm starting to take the blinkers off, opening my eyes. What can I learn? I travelled back and forth from Newcastle to Bournemouth with JT [Jason Tindall] and Purchey [Stephen Purches] for two years. You'd get on the plane: they'd be on the laptop. In the airport, on the laptop, phone. 'Have you seen this, Purch?' You can't switch off. They are constantly thinking about the next game. 'How can we improve?' I am thankful for those experiences, I've sucked it all up. It has given me a picture of what management might look like' – Matt Ritchie gets his chat on with Ben Fisher about his admiration for Eddie Howe, brutal pre-season training with Paolo Di Canio and a dream finish to his career captaining Portsmouth to safety. That settles it. England are not one of the great football nations (yesterday's Football Daily). Thanks for setting the record straight' – Steve Mintz. Let me be one of 1,057 people to wonder about 'In the modern era none of the great football nations have countenanced appointing a foreign manager'. It seems only yesterday that Sven took England to Munich and beat Germany 5-1. If that wasn't the achievement of a great football nation, I have to wonder about your definition of 'the modern era'' –Mike Walsh. So, Sunderland are going to a Wembley final as underdogs. Now that's never happened before (and as a Leeds fan of over 55 years standing, I was only just getting over it)' – Allastair McGillivray. Could I use your space to defend myself against Nick Jeffery at the head of his hoard of 10000100001 barcode supporters (yesterday's Football Daily letters). The Newcastle strip is clearly not a barcode. The stripes are equal width and equal spacing, and there is no obvious start or end point. Add to that the puzzle of working out a player's arm and sleeve position which leaves handball calls looking like no-brainers. And obviously, not everything that is black-and-white is a barcode. Why, think of a badly scorched polar bear on a pedestrian crossing ... The RFID chip may solve many of Newcastle's 21st-century digital desires, but it's hard to imagine a goalscorer proudly thumping or kissing an anonymous area of shirt to demonstrate his allegiance to an invisible piece of firmware. No, the QR code it has to be. I'm already picturing some massive QR tifos, with dubious messages, sending the suits off to decode is it just Geordie vernacular or is it genuinely inviting Mr Infantino to do 000001?' – Ken Muir. Send letters to Today's letter o' the day winner is … Rollover, so we'll have two prizes of official Football Weekly merch tomorrow. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. Ipswich have had a rough time of it, but Iran's Tractor Boys SC are celebrating a historic title. John Duerden tells the story of a club that has upset the establishment and united millions of Azerbaijani Turks, the largest minority in the country. It's been a 55-year journey, featuring tensions with Tehran and, very briefly, a coaching stint by John Toshack. • This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, .
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sunderland are (almost) in wonderland but will the Blades burst bubble?
THE BALLARD OF THE BLACK CATS 'Til the End'. That was the message that flashed up on the Stadium of Light's advertising hoardings as Enzo Le Fée lined up a corner with three seconds left in extra time. Back at the halfway line, both managers were scribbling out lists of penalty takers. Sunderland, having produced an early knockdown by winning the first leg of this Championship playoff semi-final, had spent much of the previous 121 minutes and 57 seconds of Tuesday's second leg against Coventry on the ropes. Yet here they were. Le Fée lifted the ball towards the near post, where Dan Ballard mistimed his leap spectacularly, ending up in a sort of crouched star jump as the ball deflected off his head, on to the crossbar, and into the net. The pin-drop silence was replaced by an almighty roar, a collective outpouring of relief and joy that seemed to move in waves as the home fans realised what it all meant. After 15 seconds of letting the crowd be heard (and watching Ballard struggle to get his own shirt off), Sky's Gary Weaver picked up the mic. 'An incredible noise that can almost be heard at Wembley!' Advertisement The playoffs are good, aren't they? Fans of Frank Lampard's Coventry probably won't agree this morning, having seen their team concoct but narrowly fail to execute a winning gameplan over 210 minutes of football. 'We're not bitter, but we were the better team over the two matches,' sighed FLC's manager Frank Lampard. Not bitter, just better. But it's Sunderland who are heading south to face another northern powerhouse in red and white stripes. Sheffield United took a slightly different approach to booking their final slot, battering Bristol City 6-0 on aggregate. And just like the upcoming Bigger Vase final between Tottenham and Manchester United – two sides only a couple of rungs up the big league ladder – this will be a showdown where somehow, one of the teams has to win. Sunderland's playoff record is, in a word, bad. Since being sent down to the third tier by Gillingham in 1987, when playoffs involved teams just above the relegation zone (*gently nudges Premier League suits*), the unlucky Black Cats have played in seven playoff campaigns and only won the final once, in League One three years ago. Beat that, Sheffield United! Ah … the Blades have made the playoffs nine times but have never been promoted – losing and failing to score in four separate finals. The stoppable force meets the movable object at Wembley in 10 days' time, but who really wants to go up anyway? The last two playoff winners are Southampton – who finally surpassed Derby's record low Premier League points total last Saturday – and Luton, who will spend next season in League One. Perhaps it's not quite so clear-cut, though. Since the playoff final became a one-off game in 1990, 35 teams have won promotion via that route, with 20 of those sides coming straight back down. OK, it's not a stellar record, but bear with us. Taking the aforementioned 2008 Derby vintage as a halfway marker, the survival rate of playoff winners is actually better in recent years. Before Luton and Southampton blotted the copy book, the previous four playoff winners were Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa – all of whom have survived and even thrived in the top tier. There is a path that leads from Wembley to Premier League security, it's just getting harder to navigate without a long-term plan and/or buckets of TV cash. Not that anyone in Sunderland, from parents booking train tickets to kids replicating 'the Ballard' in the school playground, will care too much about that today. QUOTE OF THE DAY My dream now is coming to an end. You have to reinvent yourself. I'm starting to take the blinkers off, opening my eyes. What can I learn? I travelled back and forth from Newcastle to Bournemouth with JT [Jason Tindall] and Purchey [Stephen Purches] for two years. You'd get on the plane: they'd be on the laptop. In the airport, on the laptop, phone. 'Have you seen this, Purch?' You can't switch off. They are constantly thinking about the next game. 'How can we improve?' I am thankful for those experiences, I've sucked it all up. It has given me a picture of what management might look like' – Matt Ritchie gets his chat on with Ben Fisher about his admiration for Eddie Howe, brutal pre-season training with Paolo Di Canio and a dream finish to his career captaining Portsmouth to safety. FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS That settles it. England are not one of the great football nations (yesterday's Football Daily). Thanks for setting the record straight' – Steve Mintz. Let me be one of 1,057 people to wonder about 'In the modern era none of the great football nations have countenanced appointing a foreign manager'. It seems only yesterday that Sven took England to Munich and beat Germany 5-1. If that wasn't the achievement of a great football nation, I have to wonder about your definition of 'the modern era'' –Mike Walsh. So, Sunderland are going to a Wembley final as underdogs. Now that's never happened before (and as a Leeds fan of over 55 years standing, I was only just getting over it)' – Allastair McGillivray. Could I use your space to defend myself against Nick Jeffery at the head of his hoard of 10000100001 barcode supporters (yesterday's Football Daily letters). The Newcastle strip is clearly not a barcode. The stripes are equal width and equal spacing, and there is no obvious start or end point. Add to that the puzzle of working out a player's arm and sleeve position which leaves handball calls looking like no-brainers. And obviously, not everything that is black-and-white is a barcode. Why, think of a badly scorched polar bear on a pedestrian crossing ... The RFID chip may solve many of Newcastle's 21st-century digital desires, but it's hard to imagine a goalscorer proudly thumping or kissing an anonymous area of shirt to demonstrate his allegiance to an invisible piece of firmware. No, the QR code it has to be. I'm already picturing some massive QR tifos, with dubious messages, sending the suits off to decode is it just Geordie vernacular or is it genuinely inviting Mr Infantino to do 000001?' – Ken Muir. Advertisement Send letters to Today's letter o' the day winner is … Rollover, so we'll have two prizes of official Football Weekly merch tomorrow. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. THE REAL TRACTOR BOYS Ipswich have had a rough time of it, but Iran's Tractor Boys SC are celebrating a historic title. John Duerden tells the story of a club that has upset the establishment and united millions of Azerbaijani Turks, the largest minority in the country. It's been a 55-year journey, featuring tensions with Tehran and, very briefly, a coaching stint by John Toshack. NEWS, BITS AND BOBS Nottingham Forest's Taiwo Awoniyi is expected to be brought out of an induced coma on Wednesday after urgent surgery on a serious abdominal injury sustained in Sunday's match against Leicester. Advertisement Fans of the women's game and atmospheric old stadiums are exulting in the news that Goodison Park will be spared the bulldozers and instead repurposed to provide a permanent home for Everton's women, becoming the first major UK stadium dedicated solely to a women's team. '[This] is a blueprint for how clubs can build the future of women's football,' trilled WSL chief suit Nikki Doucet. 'Establishing Goodison Park as a purpose-driven home for the women's team sends a powerful signal – not just about ambition, but about belief.' Former players including Danny Murphy, Andy Cole and Brian Deane have joined campaigners and politicians in calling out the 'financial grooming' that persuaded them to sink money into failed investment schemes that landed them with huge tax bills. 'People have been through hell and back,' said Murphy. Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair have completed their takeover of Reading, with the aim of returning the Royals to their 'rightful place within the English football pyramid'. Watford have appointed their 657th 18th 'permanent' manager of the past 11 and a half years in the form of Paulo Pezzolano after Tom Cleverley was ushered through the much-used door marked Do One last week. The Uruguayan has managed in Mexico and Brazil and secured promotion with Real Valladolid in Spain in 2024. Advertisement As the transfer merry-go-round gets primed to crank up again, Real Madrid and Chelsea (who else?) are preparing for a right old tussle over Bournemouth's Dean Huijsen, with the much-admired defender thought to be favouring a switch to the Bernabéu. There will be slightly less time for players to get stuck in car parks amid transfer deadline day shenanigans this summer after the Premier League confirmed both windows will slam shut at the earlier than usual hour of 7pm. Sampdoria have been relegated to Italy's third tier for the first time in their history. Fans of their city rivals Genoa duly responded with b@ntz-tastic fireworks in the streets and chants of 'Sampdoria are no more'. And while we're on the subject of b@ntz, Liverpool fans paid for a digital advertisement near Old Trafford to remind Manchester residents that the city is only 37 miles from English football's most successful club. We're not sure what route they're taking, but here at the Daily we'd argue it's more like 31.5 miles. STILL WANT MORE? Lionel Messi excelling in a disjointed Inter Miami team is all a bit reminiscent of his time at PSG, writes Graham Ruthven. Advertisement Riots, royals, Pelé and more: Andy Hunter rustles up 123 years' worth of memorable Goodison Park moments, as their men's team prepares to vacate. And which players have won unusual player-of-the-match awards? The Knowledge knows. MEMORY LANE 6 May 1983: yes, that is Stamford Bridge. Chelsea stepped in to help host Fulham's Rugby League Club's second division match against Cardiff RLFC on 6 May 1983. Cardiff won 20-14 in front of 3,321 spectators. 'WHAT A JOKE THIS IS'
