https://www.sunderlandecho.com/spor...-afc/sunderland-news-florent-ghisolfi-5399297
Why Florent Ghisolfi chose Sunderland as his next job
Ghisolfi says, with more than a dash of understatement, that the call from Kyril Louis-Dreyfus came at not the best moment. His first year at AS Roma had been turbulent but by the end of the campaign, the return of Claudio Ranieri sparked a dramatic turnaround. Ghisolfi describes these months as some of the best of his career.
Advertisement
Hide Ad
“We played a lot of games without losing, big energy in the club, big energy in the stadium, so it was fantastic,” Ghisolfi says.
“At the end we finished with European qualification. The start of the season was difficult but I built a lot of things in the club, so what I want to say is at the end I think I was in a good situation in Rome. A fantastic journey. In the end I think we made a good job and even after just one year, you feel that this club is in your blood.”
After years of wondering how Ranieri had won the Premier League with Leicester City, Ghisolfi says he now had the answer. “Someone very different, very special,” he gushes.
Ghisolfi had played his part in the appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini from Atalanta, a significant coup after years of overachievement with the Bergamo club. He and Roma would soon part ways, however.
Advertisement
Hide Ad
“First of all it was about the people at Sunderland, because people are the most important thing in this kind of choice,” he says. “I knew a bit about Kyril, I know his personality, his stability, he's young but he's brilliant and he's emotionally stable, involved in the club and that’s not always the case for the ownership. He has a very good partnership with Juan [Sartori] also, something important, so first Kyril, the ownership. Kristjaan [Speakman] I didn't know but it was important for me to understand if we can work together and my feedback was very positive.
“I knew Régis before, we worked a bit together, so I knew the person. I tried to hire him for Nice [at the end of first campaign in charge of Lorient], I fought for him but it was not possible, so in the end I came to him! The people were the most important thing because in my position, the people with whom you are working, the alignment is something difficult to find, so this is the most important.
“Of course also there is the potential of the club,” he adds.
“The potential in Sunderland is massive and it's perfect for me because I'm someone who likes to build. My journey in Lens was exactly that one, starting from the second division to the Champions League and I like to build, so the potential here is massive and after that, it's the identity of the club, I think I like to feel that I have, I guess, alignment with the identity because I'm someone very discreet, confidential but a hard worker, resilient and I think this is the identity of Sunderland. After it's the Premier League in England, something I wanted to experience.”
Advertisement
Hide Ad
His arrival was, he admits, the ‘first stone’ in Sunderland’s remarkable summer window. As he explains, his own decision allowed him to speak to prospective new signings with conviction. That he was sat there showed the club really meant business.
Walking away from the Stadium of Light on Saturday, the noise of the celebrations that greeted Brian Brobbey’s volley still ringing in his ears, Ghisolfi felt his choice of next club was the right one. “I feel a lot of things in this moment and yeah when I'm leaving the stadium I'm thinking it was the right choice, I'm happy to be here,” he says.
“It's a feeling I have in the stadium and in the club but also in the city. I was in Rome, I was in Nice, in Côte d'Azur and I'm from Corsica but I feel very well in this city… I cannot explain why exactly. I'm going running on the beach and I have this very good feeling in some way.”