Update on the Everton takeover: The Friedkin Group’s planned finish date may have been pushed back.

The takeover of Everton by The Friedkin Group is still on track, but Alan Myers says the finishing date has been pushed back a little.

The Sky Sports reporter told a fan via X on October 25 that he thought the team would be owned by Americans in early December, replacing Farhad Moshiri.

If you asked Myers on October 16, he said that the job would be done by late November, but he said that things are still going as planned.

Honestly, he wrote, “I don’t expect anything until early December.”

This was followed by the words, “But everything is going as planned,”

Everton may have been held up by the Leadenhall case decision.

Merseyside shouldn’t be too worried right now as long as there haven’t been any real problems, which it doesn’t sound like there have been.

A small delay in Myers’ prediction may be due to the American court ruling in the Leadenhall case that Friedkin’s deal with A-Cap to pay off 777 Partners’ £200 million debt does fall under the legal stay in that dispute [Paul Brown, 25 October].

Even so, that wasn’t a complete surprise. The deal as it stands now might still be acceptable to everyone involved, but it was already expected that it would need some changes to be approved [Matt Slater, 10 October].

Other than that, approval from the Premier League and the Financial Conduct Authority is being worked on, and no problems are expected there [Ben Jacobs, 23 September].

A delay seems to be most annoying when it affects the Friedkins’ ability to improve the team during the January transfer window, using whatever PSR options they have.

Someone suggested signing a statement [TBR Football, October 22], but it’s not clear if that will be possible before the next financial period starts in the summer.

There have already been Friedkin Group representatives at Everton in recent weeks on fact-finding missions, but Dan and Ryan Friedkin will not be there until the deal is complete [i News, 22 October]. As long as nothing actually delays the deal, they should be able to get to work on their priorities as soon as they get there.