Florent Ghisolfi is very close to becoming Sunderland’s director of football, after a rash of reports at the end of last week stated that move was behind him parting ways with AS Roma.
Whilst it’s an exciting situation for Sunderland as they further build the foundations of the club and hope to consolidate Premier League football, there’s multiple transfers which Ghisolfi was midway through at Roma before he went through the exit.
One of those was the arrival of Nayef Aguerd, reports Sunday’s edition of [Corriere dello Sport](http://corrieredellosport.it). The West Ham United defender spent last season on loan at Real Sociedad, with the Spanish club not having a buying clause because they didn’t want one.
La Real have multiple young defenders coming through their system and didn’t want to send a signal of not having enough faith, so a big deal was made about not wanting a clause for the 29-year-old.
However, the West Ham owned player then had an immediate impact, and at one point was one of the best defenders in La Liga. Injury issues impacted the second half of his but La Real have still considered a permanent transfer, although it may now be out of their reach.
Ghisolfi identified him as a great signing for Roma, so started talks on behalf of Roma. Without him, Roma’s interest is wobbling, largely because they’re worried about losing him during the Africa Cup of Nations.
Other clubs, such as Juventus are keen, but Ghisolfi appears to have been the one leading the charge for the West Ham player at Roma… maybe he’ll give it a go at Sunderland if he’s appointed quickly enough.