EVERTON have signed a £30million deal with USM Holdings – the company founded by Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri – for naming rights to a new ground.
The Toffees revealed plans to build a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
They confirmed Alisher Usmanov’s holding company, USM, will pay the club £30m this year for the option of becoming the ground’s main sponsor.
Usmanov sold his shares in Arsenal for a reported £550m in 2018, but remained a long-time business partner of the Toffees’ majority shareholder Moshiri and has been linked with buying a stake in the club.
Usmanov’s holding company USM already sponsors the Everton’s Finch Farm training ground and the Russian tycoon fronted in further cash with an agreement in place for the naming rights for Bramley-Moore Dock, which is scheduled for a 2023 completion.
Everton‘s chief finance and commercial officer Sasha Ryazantsev said: “We feel it is a really important step in this project.
“The option is £30m and will be ring-fenced for the stadium development project going forward.
“This innovative deal secures additional commercial revenue for the club and the option premium we are due to receive will be exclusively used as the club’s further contribution to the project’s equity.”
It comes after Ryazantsev pledged the Toffees are NOT in a sticky FFP situation – despite announcing a £112million loss last season.
The Goodison club confirmed the record deficit after their big gamble on Marco Silva failed to pay off.
Prem rules allow clubs to lose just £105m over a three-year cycle.
Yet with Everton having posted a profit in 2017 of £30.6m, their aggregate loss of £94.3m means they are well inside the danger mark.
Prem calculations will be based on an assessment by the club of this season’s figures, due to be presented to League bosses in March.
But the club’s significant expenditure on Goodison Park, their Finch Farm training headquarters and money that has gone into Bramley-Moore Dock means they should still comfortably avoid any issues.
