Everton takeover must clear Friedkin hurdle but reaction at Finch Farm is no surprise

Representatives of John Textor are yet to submit any proposals to the Friedkin Group as the US billionaire seeks to move forward with plans to complete a takeover of Everton, the ECHO understands. Textor is in talks with Blues majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri as he continues to explore his ambitions to buy the club.

Any deal would need to overcome several major hurdles, however.

They include the repayment of a £200m loan provided by the Friedkin Group to Everton this summer.

Moshiri is more than two years into his search for either major investment or a buyer who can end a stint that has seen him pour hundreds of millions of pounds into the Blues only for the club to be beset by regulatory, financial and footballing problems.

Those efforts have taken him through detailed talks with four different parties, including 777 Partners, which embarked on a failed nine-month mission to pass due diligence from the Premier League.

That takeover collapsed as 777 became embroiled in legal and financial problems that continue to impact Moshiri’s hunt for a new Everton owner.

Concerns over the near-£200m in loans provided to the club by 777 Partners led to a breakdown in the talks between Moshiri and the Friedkin Group.

That group had entered exclusivity talks with the British-Iranian businessman amid the fallout of the break down of the 777 deal.

The Friedkin Group pulled out of a move for Everton last month but not before the outfit, which owns Italian giants Roma, had provided a £200m loan. That debt must be repaid in full should the ownership of the Blues change.

But sources close to the Friedkin Group said they were yet to receive a proposal from Textor, who is locked in talks with Moshiri about his own ambitions to take on the club.

The repayment of that loan is just one part of a complex set of challenges Textor would need to overcome in order to complete a takeover. The most significant is that he currently owns around 45% of Premier League rivals Crystal Palace.

He must sell that stake in order to become owner of the Blues and, while he is seeking to do that, it is a process that began at the start of the summer and remains ongoing.

Everton manager Sean Dyche was probed about the chaotic off-the-pitch situation at the club ahead of the trip to Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.

He said he could provide little insight into boardroom matters - a response that was of little surprise given that Moshiri appears to have embarked on his latest negotiations in private.

In contrast to those off-field issues, Finch Farm was a picture of calm on Thursday afternoon - despite a difficult start to the season that has so far included an injury crisis and a disappointing defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.

The nature and scale of the 3-0 defeat on Saturday may have caused concern about the club’s plight beyond the training ground but Dyche was insistent the panic button had not been pressed in the dressing room.

He instead continued to stress the need for patience, particularly in new signings with little Premier League experience. His team selection for Brighton led to complaints from some sections of the fanbase over the decision not to offer starts to new signings such as Jake O’Brien, Iliman Ndiaye and Jesper Lindstrom.

Dyche has spent the summer repeating his belief they will need time to adapt to the Premier League and what happened against Brighton does not appear to have changed his mindset.

He pointed to the lack of senior minutes Lindstrom and Ndiaye had last season as he considered their progress at the club while also - perhaps in a rebuttal to calls to turn to the academy amid his current injury crisis - highlighted his belief the Premier League is an “unforgiving” environment and young players must be exposed to it only when right.

The right conditions included, he said, when they could be protected by having the club’s best players around them. With so many key figures set to be absent at Spurs his comments implied England youth prospect Roman Dixon may not be his solution to the problem on the right of the defence - where his first four options are all set to be absent.

Last season, Everton travelled to Spurs amid injury issues just before Christmas and went on to produce one of their best displays of the season - albeit one that ended in a controversial defeat.

While that is providing some inspiration for the weekend, there is an acceptance that the trip is a daunting one given the circumstances - one of the factors behind the desire for patience.

If things were to become harder before they became easier then the visit of Bournemouth to Goodison Park - Everton’s next league match - would become a game of real significance for the third consecutive season.