More clues emerge over when Everton’s takeover is set to be completed

Everton fans have finally been handed a date by which their club takeover by the Friedkin Group will be completed, according to a fresh report.

Everton left in limbo after agreement

Back in September, it was announced that the Friedkin Group had agreed a deal to buy a 94% stake in Everton Football Club, ending Farhad Moshiri’s largely disastrous ownership of the club.

A deal was believed to have been agreed for around £400m, which ended a turbulent period in Everton’s ownership race, in which the Friedkin Group initially pulled out before 777 Partners also failed to agree a deal. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace owner John Textor also showed interest, but could not sell his stake in the Premier League club.

A spokesperson for the Friedkin Group said in a statement at the time: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement to become custodians of this iconic football club. We are focused on securing the necessary approvals to complete the transaction.”

“We look forward to providing stability to the club and sharing our vision for its future, including the completion of the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.”

The new owners will become the 11th-richest in the Premier League when they take over, with Friedkin’s £5.6bn net worth just below that of Fulham owner Shahid Khan.

However, in the time since, little progress appears to have been made on a deal, while Everton’s progress on the pitch continues to stall.

Now, an update has been forthcoming on when Everton fans can expect to be welcoming their new owners to Goodison Park.

Everton’s takeover timeline revealed

According to Football Insider, Dan Friedkin is “still on course to complete his takeover before the end of December”.

It is claimed that “everything is currently going smoothly after no unforeseen problems have cropped up with the deal”, but that “Friedkin is currently waiting to receive regulatory approval from the Premier League, the FA and the Financial Conduct Authority before he can finalise the takeover” – something that has forced them to wait before becoming hands-on owners on Merseyside in the place of Moshiri.

It is added that the deal could be official “potentially before Christmas if everything goes to plan over the coming weeks”, and that financial issues with 777 Partners are unlikely to prove a stumbling block to the deal going through, which could allow the new owners to begin investing in the club in January.

The news is likely to leave Everton fans with mixed emotions; on the one hand, they will be handed a chance for a fresh start under new ownership following the stale and debt-ridden tenure of Moshiri.

On the other hand, current affairs at Roma, Friedkin’s other major European club, provide a cautionary tale. Now without a manager for the third time in 12 months, they sit 12th in Serie A with one win in their last five games, and the Roma fans have shown their anger at the club ownership with a banner outside their hotel in recent days, calling the Giallorossi president and directors ‘incompetent and unworthy’.

Everton fans will be hoping that this proves to be far from the case, while their arrival may well have a knock-on impact on the future of manager Sean Dyche.