Sunderland’s director of football has spoken ahead of the clash with Liverpool

Florent Ghisolfi has said that Sunderland are ‘ambitious’ but not at this stage talking of a European push this season.

Sunderland’s director of football was interviewed by TNT Sports ahead of Sunderland’s clash with Liverpool, with the Black Cats at the time within striking distance of the European places. Ghisolfi was asked whether the club were aiming for Europe and whether that was impacting their planning. He said that wasn’t the case at this stage and that the focus remained first and foremost on hitting 40 points.

“At the moment we don't speak about that [Europe],” Ghisolfi said.

“We don't think about, I think Regis has always been clear on the 40 point target. We have to stay focused on that. After that, the dream is good energy, I'm not afraid to speak about dreaming but first of all we have to go step by step. This is a hard league, the best in the world, we have to stay focused. The most important thing is to stay Sunderland: The only thing we ask them is: Be Sunderland. The values, fight every day, every game. This is the only thing I ask and these are my first words to the team.”

Ghisolfi was also asked about the club’s preparations for the summer transfer window, and whether they were braced for interest in their key players given the success of the campaign so far. Ghisolfi said the club didn’t fear interest and were in a strong position after a winter window in which the focus was on stability.

“If our players are attractive I think it's a good thing, it's because of the collective work,” Ghisolfi said.

“If they have some interest, it will be a positive thing. We are strong, we are ambitious. For the winter window we had a clear plan, we wanted stability and continuity because the summer was very busy. The winter was more calm I can say, and we are preparing for this summer but first of all we have to reach the target [for this season]. The first target is to stay in the league, and then we will work for the future.”

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Florent Ghisolfi on Sunderland’s transformative summer window

Ghisolfi said ‘alignment’ was the key to Sunderland’s hugely successful summer window, and that he was pleased the identity of the club was kept in place despite the turnover.

“It was very busy and not easy, I was the sporting director at AS Roma and right after the promotion, the ownership called me and I jumped into the project,” he said.

“It was a rush, not easy but we had a clear view and strategy of the team we wanted to build and the identity of the club, which was the centre of everything. Today I'm very happy because the team has that identity, we play as Sunderland.

“It's very simple to explain [my relationship with Regis] the word is alignment,” Le Bris siadWe work together with Regis, with Kristjaan and also I need to add Kyril - he is very important in that leadership. He's had a very important impact on the club's journey from League One. We are one club, one direction, we have only one voice.The potential of the club is huge, because of the history, the stadium, the fanbase but at the end we have to work. Today we still a promoted team, we have to build and work. We know where we want to go but there's a lot of work.”