Régis Le Bris makes major Enzo Le Fée claim and drops Sunderland selection hint for Burnley clash

Régis Le Bris has declared Enzo Le Fée to be ready to make an immediate impact at Burnley on Friday night, though he has also hinted that he might have to make do with a place on the substitute's bench to begin with.

Le Fée has been training with his team mates this week after concluding an initial loan move from AS Roma late last Friday night, and the Sunderland head coach has seen enough to be satisfied that there are no concerns over his match fitness. While the French midfielder has not featured much for Roma of late, he does some game time under his belt this season.

The 24-year-old looks set to be named in the squad and get his first minutes in red-and-white at Turf Moor as a result, though Le Bris appears reluctant to drop any of the midfielders who have been in such exceptional form over the course of this current campaign.

"I think first of all, he's ready to play," Le Bris said.

"Sometimes this is not possible when you sign a player because they have not played a lot, they are injured... but Enzo is really fit. And at the same time, we have to respect the legacy. A new player can come in and say, 'I'm here to change everything'. Here it is not possible because the identity of the team is very strong, the quality is important and he has to make the steps to connect with the team. It depends on many things, the game, the scenario, the players available and so on. He is ready and at the same he has to connect with the team, so we will see for Friday."

Le Fée's first training sessions have also given Le Bris hope and confidence that there will be a shorter acclimatisation time than there might ordinarily be for a player moving to a new club, as the principles with which Sunderland play are so familiar to him from his time at Lorient.

"Probably the first idea we had with Enzo was because of his understanding of how we play," Le Bris said.

"It is not an easy idea to sign a player from Roma, even though we are a massive club. He wanted to play, to enjoy it, to recover the link [with the game]. Because of our shared knowledge we thought it would be a good idea, and even after two or three training sessions it is clear he understood what we we are doing here. It's very clear for him because we played with these principles for six, seven years at Lorient.

"Our midfielders have done very, very well. The idea of having one or two more players is to maintain this level for the last 20 games. The last part of the season will be very intense and we need more depth to maintain this level."