Close ties but no favoritism: Régis Le Bris' French touch at Sunderland, a recipe for promotion to the Premier League?

Sunderland's 2-1 victory over Coventry in the first leg of the Premier League promotion play-off semi-finals on Friday owed much to their French side. The Black Cats won thanks to an opening goal from Wilson Isidor, assisted by Enzo Le Fée, both players who had played for France's youth teams, and a second goal from Eliezer Mayenda, a Spaniard who could have played for Les Bleuets, having grown up in the Paris region before being trained at Sochaux.

The success of these three players that day was marked by Régis Le Bris, Sunderland's manager since June, who was personally involved in bringing in Isidor (from Zenit St. Petersburg last summer) and Le Fée (from AS Roma in January), both on loan.

He knew them well, having crossed paths with the first (24 years old) at the Rennes training center (2009-2012) and trained the second (25 years old) at Lorient (2022-2023). The technician (49 years old) also played an essential role in the development of Eliezer Mayenda (20 years old), who arrived in 2023 at Sunderland, where he seemed to be failing for a long time. "Régis established a real bond of trust with him and helped him progress a lot, particularly in his defensive work and his versatility ," confided Fulgence Mayenda, the attacker's father. They both speak French, which makes communication easier." Is it to believe that Le Bris, like Arsène Wenger did in his time at Arsenal, wants to "Frenchify" Sunderland, by integrating players who have learned their trade in Ligue 1, or even Ligue 2? The answer is negative.

Since his arrival, the former Lorient coach has encouraged the loan departure of four of his compatriots: Pierre Ekwah (Saint-Étienne), Timothée Pembélé (Le Havre), Adil Aouchiche (Portsmouth, English D2) and Abdoullah Ba (Dunkerque, L2). "Some of them were having a hard time not getting more playing time ," confided a dressing room insider. Régis doesn't care about nationalities; he's more interested in the players' ability to fit into a team framework."

The fact remains that if Sunderland ever manage to reach the Premier League, which would already require qualification this Tuesday evening, before a final at Wembley on May 24, the club's dressing room would maintain a French-speaking tone: Le Fée would then automatically be retained, while Isidor (who signed a contract in February until 2028) and Mayenda (also signed until 2028) would not consider their futures elsewhere.