FARHAD MOSIRI is poised to light the blue touchpaper on an £800million takeover by Roma owner Dan Friedkin.
An announcement allowing the billionaire American a period of exclusivity to complete due diligence could be announced within hours.
SunSport understands that Friedkin, worth £4.8billion, has beaten off a bid by Vici Private Finance in the battle to become the new Everton owner.
Friedkin is believed to have agreed to majority owner Moshiri’s demand for £200m up front to be given the rights to examine the club’s finances before moving ahead with the deal.
His entrance as the new head honcho of the Toffees may not, however, go down well with some supporters.
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They are already upset that a member of his Friedkin Group described Everton as “the second club in Liverpool.”
While Friedkin himself said after buying Roma in 2020 that the Serie A club would “always be the jewel in his football crown.”
A straw poll of fan group Upper Gwladys Street Blues gave him only one per cent backing last weekend while Vici, funded by two American private companies and who showed £800M in cash to Moshiri, got 79 per cent.
Yet Everton are in desperate straits with debts of almost £600m plus Moshiri needs a further £200m to complete the construction of his club’s new Bramley – Moore Dock home.
What’s more, after losses of £133m over the last two years, they are already £2m beyond the Prem profit and sustainability limit of £105 going into the year of the regulation cycle.
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More red figures are expected by the end of Everton’s trading year on June 30.
After surviving two points deductions last season they will face another in the new campaign unless they carve into those losses by selling players to balance the books by that date.
Those massive debts also mean that Everton continue to flirt with administration - which would bring an automatic nine-point deduction.
Manchester United have already had one “derisory” offer of £35M for Jarrad Branthwaite rejected.
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The Old Trafford club tried to cash in on Everton’s financial crisis but the asking price for England prospect Branthwaite, 21, remains at £70m.
United are certain to go back with a bigger offer while Amadou Onana and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are targets of Arsenal and Newcastle respectively.
One or both could leave Goodison by June 30 with Abdoulaye Doucoure another star who may have to be sacrificed.
Friedkin’s entrance, although it would have to be ratified by the Prem, would be too late to see the fire sale that is expected and is likely to take several weeks at least to go through.
Yet his takeover would still mean blue skies for Blues fans who have seen their club escape from three successive relegation close–calls.
Moshiri, meanwhile, owns his 94.1 per cent stake in the club through Blue Heaven Holdings but he is facing a personal hell.
Apart from the near-£600m debt he has overseen since taking over in 2016 he has also provided Everton with £450m in shareholder loans – and he won’t get a penny of that fortune back when he finally leaves.
