Friedkins eyed investment in Premier League rival before Everton deal - journalist

The Friedkin Group looked at taking a minority stake in West Ham before they agreed a deal to takeover at Everton, according to Matt Slater.

The journalist reported on The Athletic FC podcast on 25 September the news that the Roma chiefs had been looking at various clubs before they homed in on the Toffees, and investigated buying a share of the Hammers.

Dan Friedkin came close to agreeing a deal for Farhad Moshiri’s shareholding on Merseyside in the summer before abandoning the bid in July [The Athletic, 19 July], but re-appeared and rapidly sealed an agreement ahead of John Textor over the weekend [Sky Sports, 23 September] which was announced on Monday 23 September.

Slater said (6m 55s): “Post-777 implosion The Friedkin Group came forward. They’d been looking at clubs for a while.

“I don’t think this is particularly widely-known but I’m happy to reveal it here, they looked at the minority stake at West Ham for example.

“They clearly have, like a lot of these big US investors, plans around multi-club. There’s more to be said on this because everyone has a slightly different approach to multi-club. It does appear that the Friedkins are quite happy to leave their clubs relatively independent.”

Everton buyers looked at acquiring West Ham stake

It is no shock in itself that the Friedkins looked at the Irons as well since many football investors shop around to see what deal suits them.

MSP Sports Capital were reportedly interested in Tottenham at the same time as they were linked to a minority deal with Moshiri [Financial Times], and Textor tried to buy QPR this summer after interest in Everton emerged [The Athletic, 13 September], while he still remains 45 per cent owner at Crystal Palace now.

Evertonians will be thankful, for now at least, that TFG ultimately decided to choose their club and didn’t enter English football at the London Stadium, given how vital it is that a buyer was found to end the Moshiri reign.

At this stage the Friedkins look the most suitable option, and a far cry from the cavalcade of red flags which came with the 777 bid throughout last season.

There have been some warnings from Italy where their premiership at the Stadio Olimpico is going through arguably its most rocky period right now [BBC Sport, 23 September].

But how much that is a product of relative expectations, or an understandable fear that TFG are going to focus their attentions on the Toffees rather than the Giallorossi, remains to be seen.

The Friedkins certainly have the finances, and the fact that they have seemingly managed to navigate a complicated takeover picture to get the process 99 per cent done already [Giulia Bould, 23 September] is a positive sign.

And with Dan set to have a hands on role in England while son Ryan holds the fort in Rome [Sky Sports Italia, 23 September] fans will hope the new era starts soon and there are now more unwelcome surprises.

In other Everton news, Friedkin’s immediate plan for Sean Dyche’s future has emerged as three replacements are linked.

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