AS Roma likes to dip into Ligue 1. In recent years, La Louve has welcomed residents of the French championship into its ranks, like Renato Sanches, Leandro Paredes and the former OL player , Houssem Aouar. But this was not necessarily a guarantee of success. The Italian team hopes to experience better success with Enzo Le Fée. Aged 24, he was snatched during the summer of 2024 from Stade Rennais, which was only able to count on him for one season (5 assists in 35 matches in all competitions, editor’s note). In fact, he was transferred from Lorient to Rennes in 2023. All for a check for €20 million. A year later, he moved to the Giallorossi, who paid €23 million to secure his services.
The Romans proudly announced the good news on July 10. “AS Roma is happy to welcome Enzo Le Fée. The French footballer born in 2000, who will strengthen the midfield, is originally from Rennes and grew up in Lorient, where he was called up to the national teams under 20, 21 and 23 years old. Despite his young age, thanks to his vision of the game, his dynamism and the skill demonstrated on set pieces, Enzo Le Fée has established himself among the most interesting players on the European football scene, accumulating more than 130 appearances in Ligue 1.” Enough to put a smile on the fans’ faces, delighted to be able to count on this talent arriving in the suitcases of the new sports director, Florent Ghisolfi.
The Fairy does not play with Ranieri
It must be said that the two men know each other perfectly since they had already collaborated with Merlus (2017-2019). At that time, Ghisolfi was Mickaël Landreau’s deputy. A few years later, he immediately thought of Le Fée to come and reinforce La Louve. An obvious choice according to him. “Enzo is happy to come to Rome. I think you are here to welcome him. You will see that his arrival will be a very, very good thing for Roma. Very confident, the Italian press was enthusiastic about the signing of the Frenchman. But a few months later, the transalpine media are a little less enthusiastic about the player. It must be said that his adventure in the capital did not really start well.
After just two appearances in Serie A against Cagliari and Empoli, he was quickly halted by a lateral ligament injury. This required 39 days of downtime. The Fairy, who missed 6 matches, only returned to his team in October. First on the bench, he came on against Inter in Serie A (20 minutes, October 20) before continuing against Dynamo kyiv (53 minutes, October 24) and Union Saint- Gilloise (55 minutes, November 7) in the Europa League. In the league, he played against Torino (90 minutes, October 31) and Hellas Verona (67 minutes, November 3). In total, the native of Lorient therefore participated in 7 matches in all competitions, including only one in full (5 starts). It should also be noted that he was on the bench six times without coming into play.
A “mystery” for the Italian press
This was the case during the last 4 meetings where he was in the group. The Fairy, whose last appearance on the meadow dates back to November 7, almost a month; difficult to convince in Italy. This Wednesday, La Gazzetta dello Sport also looked into his case. The pink paper publication was titled: “the mystery of Enzo Le Fée, on the pitch only for 365 minutes”. There GoS specifies that he is the only player in the first team (with the exception of the injured Hermoso and Sangaré) not to have been used even for a minute by Claudio Ranieri, who says of him that he has “good qualities”. The footballer bought for €23 million, who had not shown much until now according to the GoScosts 65,000 euros per minute played this season.
He will have to quickly rectify the situation, he who hopes not to suffer the same fate as former L1 players who made an express visit to Rome. But some still believe in him in Italy. This is the case of Michele Tossani, journalist at Tuttosport and the Corriere della Serra. “I think he’s a very good player. Claudio Ranieri needs to find the best system to use Enzo Le Fée, Paulo Dybala, Matias Soulé or Tommaso Baldanzi. Rome needs to increase its technical level”. And according to him, Enzo Le Fée will have a card to play. But time is running out. Especially since the Corriere dello Sport announces that a departure this winter, in the form of a loan is envisaged for the player, who has a market in France. Estadio Deportivo adds that Betis also thinks of him. To be continued…
