Everton have identified Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear as a potentially key new appointment as the club take shape under new American owners the Friedkin Group.

The Americans are putting together a new executive structure, having completed their takeover in December, and Kinnear, an experienced football executive, is one of the early front-runners. He has been a successful chief executive at Leeds for nearly eight years, often outspoken and prepared to engage directly with supporters.

Telegraph Sport reported last week that David Weir, the former Everton captain, is a target for the club as director of football. The current Brighton and Hove Albion director of football is close to David Moyes, newly reappointed as Everton manager and having turned around the club’s fortunes in rapid style with 13 points from six games.

The club are hoping to emerge from three years of austerity in the transfer market next summer to give Moyes the resources – in terms of players and general club infrastructure – for a strong first season in their new £750 million stadium.

Kinnear has extensive experience of new stadium moves, having been commercial director at Arsenal when they moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2007. Before Leeds he was managing director at West Ham United when they took their tenancy of the Olympic Stadium, a deal so beneficial to the club some considered it effectively the gift of a free stadium. He joined Leeds in 2017 and was running the club with former owner Andrea Radrizzani when Marcelo Bielsa won promotion in 2020, ending a run of 16 years outside the Premier League.

He is the only senior figure from the club who predates the takeover of Leeds by the owners of NFL franchise, the San Francisco 49ers, completed in the summer of 2023.

It is understood that the search for a new Everton chief executive is being undertaken by Nolan Partners, a recruitment specialist that has carved a niche in finding executives for clubs and organisations across many sports.

Everton currently have a temporary appointment as chief executive – the long-serving Colin Chong helped navigate the club through the choppy waters of its Premier League eight-point deduction last season, having breached financial controls. Before that the role was occupied by Denise Barrett-Baxendale. Many Everton chief executives of the past have been obliged to work with hands-on owners, or principal shareholders, such as the late Bill Kenwright and Farhad Moshiri who eventually reached agreement with Dan Friedkin, the American investor, last year.

Leeds are well-placed for automatic promotion from the Championship. Kinnear said in September that the club needed to sell players last summer to comply with profit and sustainability rules [PSR], which led to the £40 million sale of Archie Gray to Tottenham. The club are also planning an extension of Elland Road.

They were one of the clubs most aggrieved by Everton’s PSR breaches that ended in charges and a points deduction last season. Leeds were relegated at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Telegraph Sport approached Everton but the club declined to comment.