As May has turned into June, things have begun to heat up, and it’s not just the weather getting warmer. Everton have undergone significant change in just 30 days time. At the end of May it was looking all but certain that 777 would finally be left in the dust in regards to purchasing Everton football. Thankfully, that is exactly what happened as soon as the calendar turned to June. Everton then had an important task, finding another suitor to take the club into the future. There was no shortage of potential buyers who threw their hats into the ring. The first reports saw 2 bidders step up in the early days. Andy Bell, and George Downing were the first group, the other group was MSP capital. Bell and Downing are Evertonians, and would have had a real interest in bringing Everton back to where they belong. MSP had previously loaned Everton money to continue the development of the Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.
The next perspective owner was a bit of a surprising one. John Textor is a minority owner at Crystal Palace. Textor had some great quotes right before the exclusivity agreement with 777 ended. Saying “How great would it be to take one of these great English clubs back to sort of glory?” Textor was always unlikely to take over at Everton as majority shareholder because of the turnaround time on selling his minority stake in Crystal Palace. A week later a twist in the Bell and Downing bid. It was reported that the bid was backed by the very wealthy Michael Dell of Dell Technologies. Dell worth an eye watering 101 Billion dollars. This news no doubt had Evertonians very excited about that potential takeover. The news of potential buyers just didn’t stop.
The next person to step forward was Dan Friedkin who is also the owner of AS Roma in Italy. There were a few more groups that reportedly put in a bid, but none of them ever seemed very likely to win the bid. As time went on there were twists and turns, but a lot of good options for Moshiri to pick from. As it got towards the middle of the month, the Friedkin group was looking to gain traction as favorite to win the bid. Finally on June the 20th, the Friedkin group entered into a exclusivity agreement with Farhad Moshiri to purchase Everton football club. The full takeover will likely take at least another month, perhaps longer, but the early signs are very encouraging for Everton fans. Hopefully by the time the final season at Goodison kicks off, the clubs new owners will be sitting in the box watching Everton beat Brighton on match week 1.
June is also the official start of silly season. The summer transfer window is open and Everton, for the first time in a long time have been very busy. The first signing of the summer was Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa. The Midfielder just turned 21 years, and came to Everton for a reported 10 million pound price tag. It was a bit of a controversial transfer, well controversial to a very select few that is. Lewis Dobbin moved from Everton to Villa with a matching 10 million pound price tag. This transfer ruffled some feathers of some in the media, and very clearly Richard Masters, and the Premier League. After this transfer was completed a letter was sent out to all 20 teams telling clubs to keep transfer values above board and negotiate with other teams in good faith.Quite frankly, a ridiculous letter, worth less than the paper it was written on.
Other signings have been completed for Everton as well. Jack Harrison is back for another season on a dry loan from Leeds United. Harrison said he was disappointed in his performance last season and is wanting to improve his numbers from last season. Ashley Young, and club legend Seamus Coleman both signed 1 year deals. This is likely Coleman’s last season playing football, and what a way to go out. A deal that is already done is lliman Ndiaye. The fee was reported as 18.5 million euros with 1.5 million in add ons. Ndiaye is listed as a striker, but can play across the front 3 and even a little deeper as a 10. Only had 4 goals and 3 assist for Marseille last season, but he was a magician for Sheffield United in the season they were promoted in the 2022/2023 season. Well see how Dyche deploys him, but a nice option to have. On top of Dobbin leaving in what was essentially a swap deal with Villa.
Ben Godfrey has also left the club. He’s moved to reigning Europa league champions, Atalanta. Godfrey told Everton he wasn’t going to sign a new deal, so this was always going to happen. There is only one other bit of transfer drama and it involves Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Everton had interest in Newcastle player Yankuba Minteh, and Newcastle had interest in Dominic Calvert-Lewin. There was a deal the reportedly struck between the two clubs. However, the deal died when Calvert-Lewin couldn’t agree to terms with Newcastle United. It seems like a new home is defiantly needed for DCL. Something of note that is transfer news adjacent. With the sale of Ben Godfrey, and the passing of the June 30th which was the end of last years league year, Everton appear to have gotten under any PSR breach.
Just a few more odds and ends to wrap up here for the month of June. Manchester United threw a couple of hilariously unrealistic offers at Everton for Center Back Jarred Branthwaite. By al accounts, United was told pay the 75 Million pounds or buy another Center Back. Everton’s contract with kit suppliers Hummel expired after 4 years of supplying kits for the blues. There we some good kits, some that people didn’t like, but they unquestionably had passion about making kits for Everton. The new kit suppliers are Castore. There was some bad press that had come out about Castore kits from Aston Villa, mainly about how the kits held up when players were sweating. Time will tell how the deal turns out for Everton.
The last thing that has to be mentioned is a sad note. on June 15th Kevin Campbell sadly passed away. He was a beloved figure in the Everton community and among his colleges in the media. Kevin Campbell by all accounts was a stand up man, and he showed that, always sticking up for Everton in every scrap. None of his teammates ever had a bad thing to say about him. Just a brilliant man that was taken off the earth far too soon. RIP Kevin Campbell, you will be missed.
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