£3m Sunderland talent could be their next big-money star

Even with the distraction of the transfer window rolling into its final few frantic hours, Sunderland and Middlesbrough still managed to play out a Championship classic at the Riverside Stadium on Monday night.

Indeed, the near neighbours would share the goals out for the majority of the entertaining clash, only for Regis Le Bris’ men to then clinch a decisive winner late on courtesy of a Ryan Giles own goal to pick up a chaotic 3-2 away win.

There were various standout performers for the Black Cats, but it was Enzo Le Fee who lapped up the most plaudits come the full-time whistle.

Le Fee’s performance in numbers

It’s fair to say the French midfielder finally announced himself to the English game properly with this standout display at Boro, having shown brief flashes of his pedigree in other Championship contests to date.

At the Riverside, however, Le Fee oozed class from minute one, with a sublime first touch helping Sunderland bundle home that dramatic late winner.

Away from this moment of audacious quality, Le Fee managed to run experienced EFL face Luke Ayling ragged all night long down the left flank with 100% of his dribble attempts successfully completed, whilst also picking up an assist when Wilson Isidor fired Le Bris’ side into a 2-1 lead.

Winning seven duels as a battler for his team too, it was an extremely well-rounded display from the ex-Lorient man who is more than living up to his billing as a £19m worthy footballer.

But, Le Bris will be aware he isn’t the only star in his side who could make him some big bucks down the line, with another of his standout assets causing Boro all sorts of bother yesterday evening.

Isidor’s performance in numbers

The star in question here is the aforementioned Isidor, who has been letting his football do the talking in recent matches after that disastrous two-penalty miss game versus Burnley.

Indeed, since that Turf Moor horror show, the Black Cats number 19 has had two goals to shout about from his next three Championship encounters, with an ice-cold strike at the Riverside to gift his side a slim lead making new Boro goalkeeper Mark Travers look very foolish.

Despite amassing just eight touches of the ball, it was a display that showcased exactly why the Mackems forked out £3.3m in January to land his services permanently, with the striker also successfully winning 100% of his duels on the night.

If that does come to fruition, Isidor will no doubt see this price tag go up and up in value, to potentially the same heights as Le Fee’s bumper valuation.

Frighteningly, there could be even more to come from the skilful striker if everything slots into place between now and the end of the campaign, with Isidor squandering a hefty 14 big chances away from his promising goal return of ten league strikes from 27 contests.

Labelled as a “ridiculous” striker by football data analyst Ben Mattinson after his stylish strike against Michael Carrick’s men, Isidor could soon turn into an even more accomplished performer for his side if his game is refined just that little bit more, with both the 24-year-old and Le Fee no doubt key cogs in the Sunderland machine moving forward if promotion is to be reached.

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