1 week Ago By [email protected] (Chris Beesley)
John Textor has suspended sporting director David Friio at Olympique Lyonnais while Everton's position on Yusuf Yazici has been confirmed Everton’s prospective next owner John Textor has displayed his ruthless streak with Olympique Lyonnais sporting director David Friio having been suspended. Farhad Moshiri , the Blues' wantaway owner, is in talks with the Missouri-born digital media and entertainment mogul, nicknamed Hollywood’s Virtual Reality Guru. However, Textor would have to sell his 45% stake in Crystal Palace before doing so.
The 58-year-old, who also owns Belgian club RWD Molenbeek and Brazilian side Botafogo, is the fifth prospective buyer of Everton since 2022 after periods of exclusivity with the Kaminski Group, MSP Capital, 777 Partners and the Friedkin Group all failed to strike a deal. A Lyon club statement confirmed that Friio has been suspended from his role and a final decision is to be made. It said: “Olympique Lyonnais has released its sporting director, David Friio, from work pending a decision to be made in the coming days.
” Liverpool World reports that despite Jake O’Brien being sold to Everton for €19.5million (£16.43m) and Orel Mangala also arriving at Goodison Park on loan, Lyon have issue when it comes to meeting French financial rules.
The report suggests they been trying to balance the books this summer, citing L’Equipe as claiming Textor has been ‘annoyed by several episodes in recent months’ and frustrated that Friio, who only took up his post in December, could not offload more players on significant salaries and into the final year of their contracts. As a result, the 51-year-old former Plymouth Argyle and Nottingham Forest midfielder’s position has been left ‘untenable.’ Despite their triple Gallic transfer raid on players from Ligue 1 in 2024 with the aforementioned Lyon pair O’Brien and Mangala being joined by Iliman Ndiaye from Olympique Marseille, Everton are not about to make Yusuf Yazici their fourth signing in recent months from the French top flight.
A versatile forward player, able to operate as an attacking midfielder or winger, he has been capped 45 times by Turkey, scoring three goals in international football. Yazici joined Lille from his home city club Trabzonspor in 2019 but he is currently a free agent after his five-year contract expired on June 30. The 27-year-old has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs in recent days, including Manchester United and Newcastle United, and an article from Jeunes Footeux claimed Everton were among a trio of English sides chasing his signature, along with Leicester City and Bournemouth.
while Italian outfit Lazio were also in the mix. However, the ECHO understands Yazici is not a target for manager Sean Dyche or director of football Kevin Thelwell and there is no interest in the player from the Everton side..
