Official: Sunderland officially confirms the appointment of Régis Le Bris as ‘new manager’, pays a £4.2 million extraction fee to Lorient, and submits a work permit application on the next step.
Official: Sunderland officially confirms the appointment of Régis Le Bris as ‘new manager’, pays a £4.2 million extraction fee to Lorient, and submits a work permit application on the next step.
Sunderland have reportedly submitted a work permit application as they wait on the next step
of their managerial appointment process after agreeing terms with Lorient’s Régis Le Bris.
According to HITC, an agreement has been reached with the 48-year-old as the Black Cats’ search for a
successor to Michael Beale potentially draws to a close.
The Wearside outfit have submitted a work permit application,
as they take a step forward to appointing a new head coach.
Beale was dismissed from the role in February after a disastrous 63 days in charge,
with Mike Dodds overseeing the end of the campaign on an interim basis.
Dodds led the club to a 16th place finish in the Championship,
with the team struggling throughout the second half of the season.
Sunderland’s Régis Le Bris approach
It was reported earlier this week that Sunderland have identified Le Bris as their primary candidate
to take over the first team squad.
It has been a protracted search process, with a number of candidates stepping forward as front-runners only
for no appointment to be made.
The Championship side will still need to pay compensation to the Ligue 2 outfit in order to
extract Le Bris from his current contract.
It is believed that a release clause worth €5 (£4.2) million has been set in his deal with Lorient,
which Sunderland may need to pay in full.
But a big step forward has been taken in the process of hiring the Frenchman,
with personal terms understood to be agreed with the club.
It has previously been reported that the work permit process has proven a stumbling block for Sunderland,
so it remains to be seen whether Le Bris’ application will be a success.
The first team squad will be reporting for pre-season in the next couple of weeks,
so the Black Cats will surely be hoping to have someone in the dugout by then.
Sunderland’s busy summer ahead
| Régis Le Bris’ Lorient record (all competitions as per Transfermarkt) | ||||
| Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | W% |
| 76 | 23 | 20 | 33 | 30.26 |
Whoever is appointed as Sunderland’s new head coach will have a lot of work to get stuck into immediately.
The likes of Jack Clarke, Trai Hume, and Pierre Ekwah have all been linked with moves away from the side this summer.
The side’s disappointing 16th-place finish in the table last season also suggests improvements need
to be made to the squad in the transfer window too.
These are all issues that Le Bris will have to tackle if he is appointed as Beale’s permanent successor.
Le Bris appointment will be underwhelming
Le Bris’ record in France hasn’t been very impressive, and he led Lorient to relegation last season, which will be a problem.
The 48-year-old has a 30 percent victory rate in his two years with the club, despite leading the squad to tenth place in 2023.
Given the lengthy appointment process, he will be under pressure to perform quickly and justify the wait.
Supporters will expect an improvement on last year’s 16th-place finish, but the transfer window will be extremely challenging due to the high level of interest in several of Sunderland’s top players.
Le Bris arrives at the Stadium of Light at a difficult time, but if he can exceed expectations, he will win over a devoted fan base.
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