John Textor has reentered talks with Everton’s current ownership to purchase the club. The American billionaire previously threw his hat into the ring to potentially take over the Toffees earlier this summer. Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, however, opted instead to hold direct discussions with the Friedkin Group. The fellow American investment conglomerate recently purchased the Italian club Roma in 2020.
While the Friedkin Group seemed set to become Everton’s new owners, the proposed agreement eventually hit a significant snag. The club announced in July that the American group was backing out of a deal to buy the Toffees. The Friedkin Group apparently had the money to fund the purchase, but were put off by the club’s incredible debt.
A majority of this debt involves 777 Partners, the group that initially had a deal in place with Moshiri nearly a year ago. The conglomerate previously supplied the Toffees with a series of massive loans. As 777 and the Friedkin Group, both failed to take over Everton, it seems as if Textor could now pounce.
According to The Guardian, Textor has once again made a bid to buy Everton. The proposal, however, is the same fee that the American initially submitted to Moshiri ahead of June 1st. Although Textor is interested in Everton, he first has to handle a separate issue involving another club under his umbrella.
The American businessman currently owns multiple soccer clubs around the world. One of these teams happens to be fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace. Textor initially acquired a 40% stake in the Eagles back in 2021. Nevertheless, he increased his investment in the team to 45% the following year.
Rules currently state that multiple top-flight teams cannot be owned by the same person/group. This means that Textor will have to sell his stake in Palace to officially buy Everton. Nevertheless, this does not seem to be a problem for the businessman. Textor previously proclaimed that he is willing to sell his shares of the south London side to gain majority control of another club.
The American also wants to make a profit on this investment in Palace. He, however, has yet to have been handed a suitable offer. Current Palace co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer have proposed to pay Textor exactly what he paid for his shares. This, unsurprisingly, has not sat well with the American. At least three other outside investors are also supposedly interested in purchasing Textor’s Palace shares though.
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Moshiri and Everton fans will be hoping that Textor can soon offload his stake in Palace to finally end the Merseyside club’s misery. Everton has endured an ongoing financial crisis for at least two years now. These problems came to a head with two separate points penalties for breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR) during the 2023/24 season. In total, the Toffees were docked eight points on the year. Despite this, they still managed to avoid relegation.
Issues with points deductions, however, have seemingly subsided. Everton recently opted to sell Amadou Onana, Ben Godfrey, and Lewis Dobbin this summer for a collective fee of about $90 million. These deals practically ensure the club that they will not face another PSR problem during the 2024/25 season.
Photo: IMAGO / PanoramiC
