Everton takeover announcement delayed after news from Italy

Dan Friedkin's takeover deal to buy Everton from Farhad Moshiri will take "a few more days" before completion, according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

The Italian newspaper reported in its print edition (18 June, page 30) that there are still some "technicalities" to fix and due diligence to complete before an official announcement is made.

It was reported that an announcement was expected on Tuesday 18 June, but that has now been pushed back until everything is made fully official.

Everton takeover announcement coming

Delay has been a key theme of the last nine months for Evertonians, who have seen takeover talks between Moshiri and several interested parties hit stumbling blocks.

The biggest perpetrators of these elongated buyout talks, other than Moshiri himself, have been 777 Partners, who were locked in a share purchase agreement between September and May that made very little forward progress [Tariq Panja].

777 injected over £200million into the club to help keep things running at Goodison Park, but Moshiri's otherwise blind loyalty to the group looked to have cost the Toffees a chance of finding more suitable owners quickly [Daily Mirror].

Although 777's deadline to complete their takeover passed on May 31, credible bidders weren't deterred and came forward in numbers, with the Friedkin Group looking all but certain to become the new majority shareholders.

A slight delay in completing the takeover process could worry the Goodison faithful, given how often 777 saw their deadlines kicked down the road, but with Friedkin's buyout supposedly imminent, there could soon be light at the end of the tunnel [Gazzetta dello Sport].

In other Everton news, a report has suggested Friedkin is planning on sacking Sean Dyche as soon as he completes his takeover of the club.

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