Friedkins Put Everton Up for Sale: 'Potential Sale of a Controlling Interest' Confirmed Less Than Two Years After Takeover

The Friedkin Group put Everton up for sale on Friday, confirming in a 170-word statement that it is “exploring new investment options” including “the potential sale of a controlling interest” — less than two years after paying more than £400m for 99.5% of the club in December 2024.

The transaction is a straight ownership exit by an American group that also controls AS Roma, announced in the owners' own words on Friday morning. “The Friedkin Group is exploring new investment options for Everton Football Club, including the potential sale of a controlling interest,” the statement read, with TFG adding that after prioritising stability, investment and the opening of Everton's new stadium, the time is right “to consider the next chapter”.

The Friedkin Group is exploring new investment options for Everton Football Club, including the potential sale of a controlling interest.— The Friedkin Group statement, released Friday 9 October 2026

The BBC and Sky Sports both carried the statement, and the picture behind it is stark. TFG paid more than £400 million for a 99.5% share of Everton in December 2024, succeeding Farhad Moshiri after his tenure ended in financial chaos and two failed takeover attempts by 777 Partners and John Textor. Since then, chairman Dan Friedkin has never attended one of the club's matches, according to the BBC's analysis of the ownership.

Manager David Moyes admitted his surprise at a press conference covered by Sky Sports. “Yeah I was surprised, they'd only came in a year and a half ago,” Moyes said — before claiming he first felt signs of the owners' fading commitment during the most recent transfer window.

What the sale talk is really about

The immediate trigger for supporter anger was TFG's attempt to sell academy graduate Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest in a £40m deal — a move agreed by the owners until news leaked out, prompting loud threats of “a riot” from Everton fans during the game at Bournemouth. The club has also been bruised financially: TFG injected £38m to cover the cost of paying Burnley more than £35m over Everton's PSR breach, a ruling the club has appealed.

Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson told Football Insider the decision is likely money-orientated — TFG seeking a “quick profit” and getting ahead of the problem of owning two similarly sized clubs in Everton and Roma, whose simultaneous European qualification UEFA's rules have always made awkward. The club has already attracted minority investment through Roundhouse Capital, with former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd and American billionaire Christopher Sarofim among those involved.

OneLightScore last examined Everton's sale talk in late September, when former CEO Keith Wyness suggested a deal could settle around £800m. Friday's statement turns that speculation into a formal process: the owners are comfortable retaining control and financing the club until a suitable buyer emerges, but the club is now, in plain terms, on the market.

For the buyers circling, the pitch writes itself: a Premier League perennial with a passionate fanbase filling a superb 50,000-plus stadium that is not waiting on an upgrade. For Evertonians, it is a fourth ownership search in barely three years — and a reminder that the stability TFG promised was always going to be a holding pattern, not a home. This article was written by Ines Kovač for OneLightScore, sourced from BBC Sport, Sky Sports, Football Insider and Football Today reporting on The Friedkin Group's statement of 9 October 2026.