DrkeemThe teasing answer seem to draw upon a couple of factors. The first was the collapse of the Friedkin Group’s takeover of Everton with the announcement that a fourth period of exclusivity with a prospective buyer in two years without wantaway majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri disposing of his 94.1% stake in the club with money owed to a previous would-be custodian, 777 Partners, cited as the factor that prompted the Roma owner to pull the plug.
While being told by Moshiri that 777 were “the best partners to take our great club forward” when he struck the doomed deal last September, ahead of the Miami-based private investment firm’s attempts to seek Premier League approval that were protracted for the lion’s share of the traumatic 2023/24 season, once they were out of the picture, it was refreshing to see the amount of attention Everton received from less controversial interested parties earlier this summer.
However, a fortnight on from high-flier Friedkin’s failure to take off – the Texas-based tycoon is currently ranked at number 262 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $9.6billion (£7.5bn) – the silence is currently deafening when it comes any official wording from potential buyers.
Ahead of Everton’s final home match of last season against Sheffield United, Dyche predicted that if there was no takeover at the club this summer, his own job would go from being like “juggling sand” to “juggling dust.” So far, this window he and director of football Kevin Thelwell have been able to use their proverbial buckets and spades to build a construction that looks to have fairly solid foundations. But when on the beach you always have to be wary of the tide coming in and ruining such hard work or even the perils of a boisterous dog running past and kicking everything up in the air.
For the Blues in the Premier League, that would be manifested by someone coming in between now and the deadline for one of their prized assets, which could be the second factor. Thelwell made it clear that a sustainable football model has to be built on astute trading, in and out of the club, and while the ‘fire sale’ predicted by some never materialised, Everton aren’t quite out of the woods yet.
Amadou Onana, who joined Aston Villa for £50million, was always going to be the most palatable sale among Goodison Park’s big names but as well as sticking to their guns over Branthwaite, the club’s resolve over Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose personal situation is far less straightforward that that of the centre-back, could be tested.
Manchester United, who have already lost new £52million defender Leny Yoro to a foot injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for three months, could now come back in with a third bid for the 22-year-old England international after having derisory offers of £35million plus add-ons and £45million plus add-ons rejected.
Thewolf
