Where does Juan Sartori stand in club now?

FPP’s investment into the club raised obvious questions regarding Juan Sartori’s commitment, both financially and in terms of his day-to-day contribution.

Sartori’s purchased a 20% stake in the club last autumn, with Donald saying that his connections in the European game would help the club go to the next level in the long term.

His father-in-law is Dmitry Rybolovlev, President of AS Monaco FC.

There were also suggestions that Sartori could help bring exciting South American talent to the club’s academy.

He was a visible, energetic presence at the Stadium of Light in the early weeks of the season.

He was singing with fans in the Roker End during a 3-0 win over Scunthorpe United.

That began to change at the turn of the year as he launched his political career in Uruguay, with his appearances in the UK becoming more sporadic.

Though he was unsuccessful in his bid to win the presidential nomination for his National Party, FPP’s arrival coincided with his election as senator.

That will require him to spend a certain amount of time in Uruguay, but Charlie Methven has insisted that he remains in regular contact with both himself and Donald.

Methven also told the Echo that he would be a more visible presence on Wearside moving forward.

Thus far, he has attended one game this season, the 1-1 draw with Oxford United on the opening day.

Donald has said that Sartori had offered to invest the funds required for the upcoming projects that the FPP’s injection will fund, but that the pair felt bringing the Americans into the fold would be the best for the long-term development of both the club and the region.

Where that leaves Sartori, particularly in the light of his recent election, and the longerterm plans touted when he took a shareholding, remains to be seen.

Both Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven have now spoken at length regarding the FPP deal, and though some key details remain unanswered, the shape of how that money will be used has been made clear.

Both have referenced recruitment, the academy, and infrastructure projects around the club’s key facilities.

This, it has been said, includes everything from lifts at the Academy of Light to what Donald said is a £500,000 project to maintain the roof at the Stadium of Light.

There have already been some signs of this deal beginning to take hold.

Both Donald and Methven have discussed the implementation of a scouting network that will report in to Tony Coton, with former Aston Villa scout Janne Wilkman the first publicly-named addition to the network, leading the club’s Nordic operation.

Further full-time appointments are expected and there will be part-time scouts feeding in to that network.

Elsewhere, Phil Parkinson has also pointed to the arrival of Nick Allamby as physical performance coach as a sign of key departments being ‘built back up’ after the cuts that followed