Sunderland have secured promotion to the Premier League after overcoming Sheffield United in the play-off final at the weekend.
Tyrese Campbell gave Sheffield United the lead in the first half and Sunderland came from behind to seal a 2-1 win at Wembley, thanks to second half goals from Eliezer Mayenda and Tom Watson.
Sunderland co-owner Juan Sartori spoke to El Espectador Deportes’ La mañana del fútbol on Monday and El Observador have relayed his comments.
The Uruguayan businessman has a 36% stake in the English club, with the rest owned by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus. He expressed his excitement at Sunderland returning to the top flight and said this is something the world has been waiting for.
Sartori also explained the Black Cats’ decision to bet on young talents has clearly paid off.
“It was a very nice moment, very exciting. It was many years of effort,” he said.
‘We bought the club almost seven years ago, destroyed in the third division and it was something that took us from that moment very low until this weekend where at Wembley, in front of 80,000 people, with the whole world waiting to see if Sunderland would return to the Premier League.
“We won that game full of stories. Many people talk about money, they say it’s the most expensive game in history, because you have like $200m in prize money to go up to the Premier League in one game, which is something unique, but for us it’s the culmination of a project of many years, with many individual stories.
“Those of you who followed and some of you will have seen the Netflix documentary, you know that the whole world was waiting to see when Sunderland would get back to the Premier League, and what we put together is a project where we bet on something very different, because if you see, it’s the youngest club in all levels of English football. If you look at the players one by one it’s full of stories where we bet on youth, hunger, the desire to do something new and make history again.”
The South American has been involved with Sunderland since 2018. He was specifically asked whether Régis Le Bris’ side is keen to sign a Uruguayan player in the near future.
When responding to this, the Sunderland co-owner insisted this is something he dreams about for the Black Cats.
“No, that’s always a dream, but you also have to separate heartfelt decisions from patriotic ones, so one would like to make the right decision at the right time,” Sartori explained.
“I’m sure that one day we’ll manage to bring a Uruguayan to Sunderland, and that it will be under the best conditions, but that’s what we’ll see now. The goal isn’t to bring a Uruguayan; it’s a dream that I hope can come true one day.”
Juan Sartori reveals his ‘dream’ signing for Sunderland – Speaks about promotion journey
