John Textor has just been handed a ‘significant’ Dan Friedkin hurdle to complete his Everton takeover

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Everton’s takeover saga continues to drag on, but at last the silence has been broken regarding the latest set of suitors.

Following two failed attempts that have wasted 12 months of Farhad Moshiri’s time, the longer this mess drags on the further into the mire the Toffees will fall.

It needs solving as soon as possible, despite it remaining a really tricky proposition to overcome.

John Textor still wants to buy Everton

After John Textor revealed his plans to buy Everton again, many months after he had first made his desire public, it seems the inability of Dan Friedkin to complete a deal has afforded his American takeover rival time to get into a position to fulfil his dream of a majority stake in a top English club.

However, as he and 777 Partners quickly found out, the truly dire financial situation of the club makes for a tough reading, and is enough to put off the most lucrative of benefactors.

Seeking to provide further insight into this mess, iNews have just offered an update on the saga, actually outlining one huge hurdle that Textor must overcome to finally assume control.

The report reads: ‘But any agreement brokered by Textor will have to clear significant hurdles before it comes to fruition. As well as Textor having to sell his 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace to proceed, he also needs to address the Friedkin Group’s debt – which has a clause that states it must be repaid on change of ownership.

‘i understands that the Friedkins are willing to negotiate on that but any deal would be likely to take into account the fact Textor has deep pockets – he already owns other clubs and clearly has the funds to pay and run a Premier League club.’

Everton’s takeover is a messy and complicated process

The fact that two different consortiums have both had a go at taking over the club, and both failed miserably, speaks volumes for the mess that Everton find themselves in.

From the outside, after these two collapses, they look like the unbuyable club.

But, that is far from the truth, and instead there is just one outstanding hurdle that must be solved to unlock an embarrassment of riches.

Not much needs to be done to the playing squad or the coaching staff at present, with Sean Dyche performing admirably with the tools at his disposal, and after this coming Premier League campaign the Toffees will be departing Goodison Park for a brand-new stadium on the Liverpool waterfront.

Set to be packed out with tens of thousands of unwavering fans too, with many more surely to be clambering in the background for spare seats too, the potential long-term upsides of owning this club are huge.

First, though, it will take a steady, measured and supremely rich hand to untie this biblical mass of debt, with Friedkin somehow still intertwined within the mess.