⚽️ Everton Headed for American Ownership?

Good morning. We continue to bring you the best and latest of the news from the Premier League despite the fact that, um, they’re not playing matches again until this weekend. The Greatest League in the World never really goes dark, though. There are always stories to tell, and we have them.

In the email today:

These acquisitions of Prem clubs through the past two decades have been fascinating.

Manchester City and Newcastle United are now controlled by deep-pocketed, oil-rich owners.

Chelsea is owned by American Todd Boehly.

Liverpool is owned by Fenway Sports Group.

Now, one of the smaller, more grass-rootsy clubs in all of England is rumored to be headed for American control.

• Everton is close to being sold to Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners, ending Farhad Moshiri's ownership.

• Everton is struggling both on and off the pitch, narrowly avoiding relegation in recent seasons, which seems incomprehensible since the club is separately facing an independent commission inquiry for an alleged breach of Premier League's financial fair play rules.

• Everton has posted financial losses for five successive years, totaling over £430m.

• The club is building a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock, with costs potentially reaching £760m.

• The potential sale would mean half of the 20 Premier League teams would be American-owned.

Our take: 777 Partners isn’t out here doing charity work. Everton has been middling-to-bad for a couple of decades now, but there was a time in the pre-Prem era when Everton was a powerhouse in the first division. Plenty of their supporters remember those days and want to see the Toffees return to prominence. An influx of investment could not possibly hurt.

2) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Manager Gareth Southgate Isn’t Fretting About Usage of Stars Like City’s Foden

The tension between managers of international teams and the managers of the clubs those players have to go back to is never-ending. This is what happens when two controlling entities have unequal say over the use of an asset (in this case, a player’s services).

The international manager only cares about, say, World Cup qualification. The club manager is trying to win the domestic league, the Champions League, etc. Injury is always the #1 concern, but there are also quibbles about how the way players are used, as we are seeing here.

• England manager Gareth Southgate recently defended his use of Phil Foden in a wide position, as against Foden’s preferred use in a central No. 10 role.

• Southgate argued that Manchester City's Pep Guardiola also deploys Foden in a wide role. “You’d have to speak to Pep, who is the best coach in the world, who plays him from wide,” Southgate quipped.

• Southgate suggested that Foden's role depends on the level of the game (quality of opposition, stakes, etc.) and highlighted the importance of defensive responsibilities.

• Southgate mentioned Foden's freedom to drift when playing wide and noted that Foden has had success playing that way under Guardiola.

• England recently drew 1-1 with Ukraine in Euro 2024 qualifying and is preparing to play Scotland in a friendly.

Our take: MEOW! Very catty from Southgate, who as we noted above is in the unenviable position of managing very expensive, very talented players without doing any of the following: getting them hurt, ruining their confidence, playing them “out of position”…you get the idea. But listen, Gareth: The next World Cup is set for 2026. Maybe pump the brakes.

3) 🇵🇹 “How Hard Could It Be to Defend Ronaldo Anyway?” HARD.

Full disclosure: Micah Richards is a far better pundit than he ever was as a Premier League defender. But most of the cannon fodder defenders that Ronaldo abused have been smart enough not to give the store away like this.

4) 🗳️ Poll: Do You Remember?

5) 🔗 Link Roundup:

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal’s Declan Rice declared Manchester City’s Rodrigo as the best midfielder in the EPL.

• 💻️ For you Fantasy Premier League wonks out there (Editor’s Note: the writer of this newsletter plays FPL), here’s an AI prediction for the coming game week.

• 🐝 Former Watford striker Darius Henderson is tackling a new obstacle: Mount Everest.

• 🇬🇭 Hat tip to the West Ham United fan who flew to Ghana to watch recent Hammers signing Mohammed Kumus play in AFCON qualifying.

The newsletter today was written by Phil Keidel. Follow Phil on X: @philkeidel.

Thanks for reading!