Dan Friedkin, un businessman americano, era uno dei principali candidati del gruppo che cercava di acquistare la quota di Moshiri.

With 777 Partners finally out of the way and consigned to the dustbin, Everton’s sale has kicked into a high gear with the Friedkin group agreeing in principle to a purchase from majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri.

Multiple media sources reported yesterday that the chairman of the group Dan Friedkin is now in the lead ahead of four other bidders looking to buy the club. The group also owns AS Roma in Italy’s Serie A and French Ligue 2 side AS Cannes. They took over at the Roman side in 2020 with the appointment of famous manager Jose Mourinho and went on to lift the Europa Conference League trophy in 2022.

With the Friedkin group now getting a period of exclusivity to complete an outright purchase of Moshiri’s 94% stake, a decision could come as early as this weekend, with the group said to be flexible about the exact structure of any deal given that their CEO alone is worth at least £4.8 billion and his business group worth a lot more.

This sees the Friedkin group get ahead of at least four other bidders, including the latest to show up UK-based investment firm Vici Private Finance, MSP Sports Capital, Evertonians and local businessmen Andy Bell and George Downing backed by Michael Dell’s family financing group, and the Manoukian consortium involving a Saudi royal which immediately backed out.