Everton up for sale again - so what next as owners TFG look for a way out?

When Everton's owners The Friedkin Group released a 170-word statement on Friday morning announcing they were effectively putting the club up for sale, it was as low-key and underwhelming as their tenure on Merseyside.

TFG, also owners of AS Roma in Italy's Serie A, paid more than £400m for a 99.5% share of Everton in December 2024, releasing the club from the financial crisis and toxicity that characterised the final days of Farhad Moshiri's chaotic regime.

It was meant to be the start of a bold new era for the club as they waited to move out of Goodison Park into a magnificent new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.

Instead, TFG will now test the market, with football finance expert Kieran Maguire telling BBC Sport he expected them to seek a price between £750m and £800m for a complete sale, taking on current debts of around £468m.

In contrast to the high hopes and confidence that accompanied their arrival, TFG have effectively been absentee owners focusing their efforts on Roma - a stance illustrated by the fact chairman Dan Friedkin has never attended an Everton game or, even more startlingly, never spoken to manager David Moyes since he arrived back at the club in January 2025.

Moyes made that revelation in the aftermath of a botched summer transfer window that transformed the relationship between Everton's fans and TFG from cold acceptance to outright toxicity.

"Everton have history and heritage," he said. They are Premier League perennials. They look like they will stay there and they have a passionate fanbase who fill a superb 50,000-plus stadium.

"You are not having to spend money on an upgrade of that stadium. I have a lot of respect for the finance people at the club. Unlike some of the chaos of Moshiri and what he left behind, you can lift up the carpet now at Everton and nothing unpleasant will come out.

"To paraphrase a former Prime Minister, you have got an 'over ready' football club coming on to the market. If you are an owner who wants to accelerate things at a football club, you have a starting point for that.

"And my start point for potential buyers would be the States."

There is no doubt, however, that Houston-based TFG's relationship with those back at base on Merseyside hinted at the dysfunctional.

The lack of a close relationship with manager Moyes was again emphasised when he admitted he only heard about Everton's potential sale at the same time as the wider public - only adding to the sense of disconnect between TFG and the club, compared to how they work at Roma.

Speaking at his press conference before Sunday's match away at Hull, Moyes said: "I'm disappointed that Evertonians have to go through another period of 'who are our owners?'

"I truly believed with new ownership we were in it completely. My ambition coming back was trying to get Everton back to the levels they have been in the past, and that is challenging for Europe more often.

"It has been a difficult summer for us. I only found out this morning. Maybe, I am a little bit surprised, but maybe I shouldn't be that surprised."