Everton have already secured big transfer win as £29m deal 'defies logic'
Today at 01:14 PM
Everton fans might be wondering what they did in a previous life to deserve their club’s fortunes in the Farhad Moshiri era.
After several years of brash spending made them the first club in Premier League history to have breached PSR the Toffees have been forced to be more conservative in recent times.
Even if they had the headroom under the spending rules to invest in the transfer market, however, they would not have been able to as Moshiri appears to have run out of cash.
Dan Friedkin’s imminent takeover and accompanying promises to repay or restructure the club’s debts and see the club into the new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock means cash flow is no long a concern.
But the legacy of Moshiri and what many consider to have been a pretty hapless C-suite at Goodison Park in recent years will continue to be felt for some time yet.
As bad as things have been under the current regime, there was not much appetite for another former takeover suitor, Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor, to take over.
Textor had agreed heads of terms with Moshiri but was unable to get a deal over the line, but not before he seemingly oversaw a handful of transactions between Everton and another of his clubs, Lyon.
New Orel Mangala transfer details ‘defy logic’
One deal that saw two Textor-linked clubs collaborate was Orel Mangala’s move from Lyon to Everton, where he will remain on loan until the end of the season.
Mangala, a 26-year-old holding midfielder, only joined Lyon on a permanent basis in the summer, having spent the previous six months on loan from Nottingham Forest.
His permanent departure from the City Ground greatly helped Forest with their own PSR issues, with Lyon’s accounts for the 2023-24 financial year revealing that they banked around £29m from the deal.
And Mangala appears to be good news for PSR-threatened Premier League clubs, as the same accounts have now shown that his loan to Everton does not include a fee.
Replying to an X post quoting figures from the accounts of Textor-owned Eagle Football, former Man City adviser and finance expert Stefan Borson said the Mangala saga “defies logic.”
“Someone will need to explain why Lyon, a club with apparently serious financial issues, exercised the Mangala option for a total of [£29m] before 30 June only to then loan him to Everton for free,” he said.
How close is the Everton takeover?
Everton’s insipid start to 2024-25 has supporters pining for the Friedkin era to begin.
The American billionaire is currently spinning a number of plates, with a crisis at his other club, AS Roma, and completing the Premier League and Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory checks.
Reports at the time the deal was announced suggested that Everton hope to have a deal finalised by January.
That timeline seems realistic, if not a little conservative.
The only major obstacle is the ongoing court case – which is entirely separate to Everton – involving one of the club’s creditors and another former takeover suitor, 777 Partners.
With 777 in the process of liquidation, the £200m owed to them by Everton has been claimed by another group, A-CAP.
But A-CAP are currently involved in a legal battle with London-based finance firm Leadenhall, with the £200m Everton loan now the subject of an injunction that could – in theory – last until March.
However, all parties seem confident that a resolution will be found earlier than that, removing the last barrier to Friedkin’s takeover.
