'Be Sunderland' - Ghisolfi's simple demand
Director of Football Florent Ghisolfi has revealed a simple instruction for staff and players during a return season to the Premier League - "be Sunderland". The 41-year-old left a role as sporting director at AS Roma last summer before he joined the Black Cats in July as they prepared for their Premier League return. Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle about why he came to Sunderland, Ghisolfi said: "The potential of the club.
I'm a builder, I like to build. "It's not only build, here it was to reinforce - the identity, the foundations - continue to build and I like that. "The potential of the club [I liked] because of the facilities, the fan base, the atmosphere, the identity and the culture.
I was very optimistic in the capacity we had to stay in the league and for the retention was not an easy challenge. " As part of the preparations for their return to the top flight, Ghisolfi oversaw an overhaul of the squad in a summer transfer window that had 15 new arrivals at the Stadium of Light. It has proved successful so far with Regis le Bris' side sitting 11th in the table and comfortably away from relegation, having been one of the favourites to go down at the beginning of the campaign.
Asked about the goals of the club, he said: "I don't like to speak about ambition. I'm always asking to everyone in the club let's be focused on who we are. To be the best version of ourselves, the best version of Sunderland and this is the most important.
"The first words to the team and to the staff was 'no objective'. We didn't ask for retention [in the league], top 10. No objective, just be the best version of Sunderland.