Roker Roundup: Sunderland co-owner Juan Sartori receives scathing political criticism in Uruguay

Criticism of Sartori

Juan Sartori is expected to officially announce that he will be running for the Uruguayan National Party’s candidate for President on Tuesday, 11 December.

Ahead of that date, the Sunderland board member will head to the National Party’s headquarters later today to meet it’s chair of the board Beatriz Agrimon before announcing his candidacy.

As an outside to Uruguayan politics and of the National Party itself - Sartori only joined the group in September - he has been the subject of a lot of in-fighting and criticism, with both the company he founded UAG (Union Agriculture Group) and Sartori himself having to defend the company from political attacks.

Uruguayan newspaper Busqueda published a piece on Sartori and UAG yesterday, which revealed the company had to lift an embargo placed on it by the Bank of the Uruguayan Republic due to unpaid debts.

Included in the article was scathing criticism of Sartori from a shareholder of UAG. Charles Brown, the chairman of Hong Kong-based investment company Lake House Group and UAG shareholder, told Busqueda:

Sartori is an expert in corruption, he was a fraud from the beginning. He used all of our money [UAG’s shareholders] to put himself into a position where he could marry a girl like that [The daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev - Ekaterina], in order to take his social life to a certain level.

Due to that criticism, the president of the Uruguayan house of representatives Jorge Gandini says he will recommend Sartori go through the Ethics Commission as soon as he announces his candidacy.

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Youngster joins Darlo

Sunderland youngster Williams Kokolo has joined Darlington on a work experience loan, which will see the 18-year-old turning out for The Quakers while continue to train at the Academy of Light.

The player - who can play either left-back or on the wing - joined Sunderland from AS Monaco in the summer of 2017 and has some first team experience after appearing on the bench against Morecambe in the Checkatrade Trophy.

Kokolo goes straight into the Darlington squad for the National League North home game against Nuneaton Borough.

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Borini linked with Newcastle

Former Sunderland forward Fabio Borini has been linked with a move to Newcastle United.

According to tuttomercatoweb, AC Milan would be willing to sell the 27-year-old during the January transfer window as they look to strengthen their side.

Borini only made a move away from Sunderland in the summer after Milan were obliged to make his loan deal permanent due to the terms of the loan, and the report claims Rafael Benitez recently made a check on the Italian.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

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Fletcher urged to kick on

Middlesbrough striker Ashley Fletcher had an unsuccessful loan spell at Sunderland last season, scoring only two goals in 16 appearances as we were relegated to League One.

Despite struggling to make an impact, the 23-year-old did show flashes of talent and Boro boss Tony Pulis says getting over his rough spell at Sunderland showed that he had character:

Fletch had a bad time at Sunderland and the crowd gave him some stick so to get over that, that was a bit of character for him. You’d think that would give him that bit of edge. But there is a player in there.

But although that showed character, Pulis says he must start kicking on and making the most out of his obvious talent:

I think the big thing with Fletch is his personality. He’s got to come out of himself. Technically, he’s a very, very gifted player, but it’s not technique alone that gets you there.

His personality, he’s got to be ... you can go through a training session and not notice Fletch being there and he’s got to grow. He’s going to be a late, late developer. As a kid he’s an absolutely fabulous lad and technically he’s excellent, we just want him to grab it.

He’s been at Man United, he’s left, he’s gone to West Ham, and he’s left and he’s come to us and he’s got to start grasping it.

Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images