The Black Cats' director of football is thought to have lost his job after the club's dreadful start to the campaign. De Fanti was appointed by Sunderland owner Ellis Short in June along with chief scout Valentino Angeloni - who is also thought to be leaving his post - in a bid to transform the way the club went about transfer deals. Since then the Italian has been responsible for bringing in 14 new players but that has led to Sunderland spending the majority of the campaign rooted at the foot of the Premier League. The likes of Valentin Roberge, Cabral and Modibo Diakite have all been acquired under his watch as diretcor of football and all have been unable to hold down a first team place under new boss Gus Poyet. Not all of his signings have struggled. Goalkeeper Vito Mannone looks worth every penny of £2m, while Fabio Borini and Ki Sung-Yueng have been two of the better performers under Poyet. Poyet is looking to make his own progress on the transfer front in a bid to revive Sunderland's fortunes, but De Fanti will no longer be part of the set up. Sunderland have already added left-back Marcos Alonso this month and are on the verge of announcing the signing of Argentine defender Santiago Vergini. Brighton's Liam Bridcutt has also been on the radar. * For more on Roberto De Fanti's departure read The Northern Echo.
I wouldn't be unhappy with that!! Good move from the club - Di Fanti was definitely throwing weight around - remember Gus saying that he would walk if at least one of Di Fanti's choices joined us. Guess Ellis has told Di Fanti where to go as (as we all seem to think) we have the right man in charge of the team
can't see it being Cortese coming in as by the sounds of it the reason he left Southampton was over a power dispute with the owner...
De Fanti oversaw Paolo Di Canio's expensive time in charge - and the decision to axe him is understood to have taken place without Gus Poyet's knowledge Sunderland have sacked director of football Roberto De Fanti. Ellis Short took the decision to axe the Italian who oversaw a raft of big-money signings under former boss Paolo Di Canio's reign. Owner Short has spent in excess of £200million on transfer fees and contracts and is clearly frustrated at some of De Fanti's deals. But it is understood that the decision to dismiss De Fanti was taken without manager Gus Poyet's knowledge. It is a strange time to dismiss a director of football midway through the January window, especially Sunderland are still pressing to sign Brighton midfielder Liam Bidcutt. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...irector-football-roberto-3032729#.UtlECdJFCt8
I was wondering if this has something to do with the Ji transfer - cause that's got a mighty strange smell about it
The £200m mark wont be whilst De Fanti has been here, cant imagine Short allowing that at all It will be during his overall reign i imagine
Not one person has mention what a difficult Job Di Fanti had. I feel for the fella. Any news on Valentino Angeloni? They were after all his signings. I'd like to take this opportunity to Thank Di Fanti for managing to negotiate deals to bring us Giacc, Borini, Ki, and Mannone. With big earners leaving the club and no big earners coming in it's clear he had a strict budget to work to and although not all of Valentino's targets have come good the mentioned names have more than played their part in helping us to close the gap. Thanks for bring the wage bill down Roberto. Good luck in the future!
Glad to see the back of him I blame him for our position. It was De Fanti who advised Short to appoint Di Canio very few of his signings have been any better than we already had. Ki and Alonso and Chiacharini have been a revelation but we have got a few for the future. Cabral Roberge Diakate could not hack the premier league. Lets hope this gets the lads playing to get us out of this mess
well, I wasn't quite expecting that. but he doesn't exactly seem to be a major presence around the SOL..
We don't need a DOF I'm sure ES & that Margaret tart can negotiate a contract. Now GP can make the decisions on who we should go for Let's hope we get a few players in now.
****ing hell Bri, well done mate Maybe to many Valentinos may have been Di Fanti's downfall? I do think it was always was going to be a rocky road with him working with Gus. 14 players in but the team still looks very much the same, especially in midfield. Signed some good lads & like you said, all the best..
Actually Di Fanti told Short to Hire Gus, Short refused because of the financial complications brought on by the Brighton situation. Gus was Di Fanti's 1st choice. Short was watching the purse strings so knocked it back.
I really cannot tell if Fanta and his sidekick were any good or not. We are 2nd bottom atm so the summer recruitment policy was not that good, although it was obvious that we were short of squad numbers last season and that has been sorted. But the quality of the intake with the exception of perhaps one or two has not been outstanding. Cos of injury we now need a back-up goal keeper and we still desperately need a CM who can play DM or AM and we urgently need a striker cos Dozy (just for you phallus) nor Fletcher (cannot recapture last season form). It looks as if Gus is in charge so please Ellis Short give him the cash needed, do not do a Huddelstone and miss out on a player for a few quid
Couldn't agree more mate .......... Poyet understands the English game perfectly and wants to bring in people he can trust. He's put his neck on the block and doesn't want to see the likes of Diakite swinging an axe. It's all very well bringing in good 'unknown' players but they have to fit into Sunderland or they're a waste of space ........... Poyet won't make that mistake.
Don't get why he's Public Enemy #1 mate. Some of those signings are worth their weight in gold. Some of them young uns were brought in for next to nowt and are almost guaranteed future profit. The Big failures were confirmed as Valentino joined the club and were free (we look in line to make profit on all three) The Only suspect signing is Jozy but I've more sense and respect to write him off after half a season. I know Sunderland fans love a Scapegoat and most of us have some kind of strange angry resentment hid away, waiting for the most appropriate person to pin it on. I just can't see why we can't just wish him the best and move on. Nowt as strange as human beings mate.
