Sean Dyche addresses impact Friedkin takeover will have on Everton transfers and contracts
Sean Dyche believes the Everton takeover may help the club to attract players but will only have a limited impact on the decisions of those already at Goodison Park. Manager Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell have had to work under tight constraints over recent years, both due to the club’s difficult financial situation and its struggle to comply with Premier League spending rules.
The takeover by The Friedkin Group (TFG) has now removed concerns over the former, with the new owners having moved quickly to reduce and restructure the club’s debt burden.
The Friedkins are keen to strengthen the playing squad but will have to temper any immediate ambition due to the club’s proximity to PSR limits.
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When it comes to doing that, Dyche believes Everton could now be more attractive to players due to the new-found stability following the end of the ownership saga.
He is less convinced it will have an impact on the situation with players already inside the camp, though, with conversations about their futures set to continue as planned. Thirteen senior players are, like Dyche and Thelwell, currently due to leave the club in the summer.
Of those players and their futures, Blues boss Dyche said: “I haven’t had any in-depth chats with them about this, but I don’t think it’s necessarily different – we’ve still signed players, we’ve still had to move as a business and re-sign players who are coming out of contract who are important or who want to stay, or we could make a contract happen. That hasn’t really stopped.
“Players here are still being rewarded with new contracts or players have still been sold. The settling period might be better for players and might attract more players, because from the outside looking in it will look a more stable situation with the new guys coming in, but in-house we are always talking with the players we need to about contracts and their agents. That will still be on-going.
“The difference now is they can go to the head of the group, Marc (Watts, Everton’s new executive chairman) and explain the situation and what they are thinking of doing and he can give his okay or not.”
Asked whether he thought the completion of the takeover would be pivotal in discussions with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, one of the most high-profile players whose future remains unclear, Dyche said: “Not in his particular case, it’s just on-going conversations. It is just helpful that everyone knows the deal is done because it takes away the noise.”