An unnamed partner is involved in John Textor’s bid to buy Everton, according to reports in France.
According to L’Equipe in France there is a second, unnamed part who has joined John Textor’s bid to take over Everton. English media has reported today that Textor’s Eagle Group has entered into a period of exclusivity with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri with a view to buy the club.
However, reports now suggest he is not alone in his ambition to own Everton.
L’Equipe says: “The Guardian revealed on Saturday that the Eagle boss had made an offer to buy the Premier League club. L’Équipe confirms this information, but Textor is not alone: he is accompanied by a partner, whose identity has not been revealed, to complete this acquisition.”
It claims Textor has three bids on the table for is Crystal Palace shares, which would be the major blocker to any Everton takeover. It says ” He has hired an investment bank for this, which has so far brought back three offers, but none of them come from his current partners at the London club, as the English press claims.”
The Eagle Group, it claims, is very confident Textor’s 45% stake in Palace can be sold quickly, allowing him to move for Everton.
There are more worrying aspects of the reports from France. Textor, it says, is obsessed with catching PSG at the top of French football and would use Everton – and the Premier League’s TV deal – to fund that ambition. It could lead to Everton being used to pump money into Lyon where Textor believes there is a better chance of Champions League football.
L’Equipe says: ” The American wants to be a majority shareholder in an English club, in order to benefit from very significant collaborative advantages for his multi-club group, starting with OL. The manager has the slightly crazy project of competing with Paris-SG in France and re-establishing the Lyon club in the Champions League.
“Given that Everton are unlikely to play in the Champions League or even the Champions League in the coming years, Eagle’s acquisition of the Toffees would not pose any competition problems in the same European competition.”
It also suggests Textor’s friendship with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis led Lyon to spend over £50m on Forest players to help them avoid PSR punishments in the summer. However, it stops short of suggesting any formal link up with Forest, instead suggesting Eagle Football would seek a club in Portugal once the Everton takeover is complete.