Sunderland are preparing for their first European campaign in 50 years this summer

It is an eye-catching admission from Sunderland's director of football.

Reflecting on Sunderland's seventh-place finish, the best campaign in a generation and one that confounded all expectation externally, Florent Ghisolfi admits he was left with a feeling that it could have been even better.

The point is not that Sunderland fell short, but to set a marker for the season that lies ahead. Ghisolfi and Sunderland didn't set a target or a limit last summer when the general consensus was that a 17th-placed finish would represent an extraordinary success. As they face up to the demands of Europa League football and everything that will bring with it, Ghisolfi wants the club to have exactly the same attitude.

"We said no limit at the start of this season, we didn't have a target and we won't have a target next season also," Ghisolfi said.

"We just wanted to be Sunderland and be the best version of ourselves, this will again be the objective. Of course I'm more than happy, proud, but I was frustrated at the end of the season because I was sure we could do better. Better first as a club if we manage some situations during the season; the manager, the players, the team, we have to be demanding and some of us had that conversation where we said maybe at the end of the season it could be even better.

"There were some periods where we were very strong but also some periods where we managed not as well as we maybe could. It's good to have this feeling that we still have a gap [room to improve]. Don't get me wrong, I was very happy and proud with this season.

"Myself, I was happy, very happy because it's a big achievement. It showed also the club is growing. You can't achieve that if the whole club, from the kitchen to the cleaning to the players are not growing. The club is growing and I was very happy about that but the standards, who we are today, yes, we can do better."

While there is recognition behind the scenes that the demands of European football will have an impact on Sunderland, it is clear that Ghisolfi is determined to ensure that is not a narrative that takes hold at the Academy of Light in the weeks and months that lie ahead.

"Every season is tough," Ghisolfi said.

"Last season everyone said we would go down, right?

"The second season is tough and I had this experience with Lens, I think we've already spoken about that. We were promoted, everyone said you will go down, but we finished seventh in the rankings. Everyone was happy with the club but I was frustrated because sixth was European competition in Ligue 1, not seventh so I was frustrated.

"In the second season in the league, seventh again. Everyone was happy, after years of suffering in Ligue 2 we are seventh and seventh again. [I said] No, we can do better. It depends on what we are doing every day. The last season, we finished second and secured Champions League qualification.

"Of course that's Ligue 1, not the Premier League but what I want to say is every year, people told me it will be tough. OK. That's why we are here, to take that challenge, to work, to maybe do better."

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Ghisolfi believes that the club's response to reaching 40 points and thus securing their Premier League safety in March was instructive to how they want to keep pushing forward in the seasons ahead, even if it perhaps did not make him the most popular figure behind the scenes to begin with.

"I'll give you an example [of the club's ambition]: When Kyril came to me, it was a statement to take the sporting director from Roma. Signing Granit was also a statement.

"Speaking about the culture, I'll give you another example. After Leeds, 40 points, we could have dropped off. I felt some people in the club and this is human, 'we need a big night, champagne...'. No. Our culture now is: next? We can achieve something more.

"I spoke right after the game at Leeds to say first thanks to the staff for their work; thanks to the team. They achieved something incredible. But we are competing in the Premier League, we feel we are strong so let's go. Maybe they were disappointed and expected a bonus!"

Sunderland's interim CEO Tom Burwell said the attitude reflected the desire right across the club to kick on and go to the next level.

"That comes back to alignment, performance first, get the football right and the culture that sits alongside the football, permeate that across the business," Burwell said.

"If you have a football organisation that's relentlessly chasing more, your business will relentlessly chase more. We talk about that all the time.

"We're competing in every area of our business, setting the tone coming from Flo and Granit and those important characters then we have a business looking to be better all the time."

Sunderland, it seems, are just getting started.

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