EPL: Everton’s finances in disarray as £300m hole looms after Usmanov split

Everton’s finances are in disarray after cutting ties with Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

According to The Daily Mail, Everton face a black hole of up to £300million in their playing budget in the coming years due to the sanctioning of Usmanov.

Usmanov was due to sign a naming rights deal for the club’s ambitious new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium via his USM firm.

A ‘heads of terms’ agreement is understood to have been agreed with options that would give USM a minimum 10-year deal, extendable to 20 years, at a minimum cost of £8m per year, increasing under certain circumstances to £15m a year.

Had a 20-year deal unfolded at the highest price payable, Everton would have benefitted by £300m, and this was envisaged to be spent on players.

But Usmanov has now been sanctioned by both the EU and the UK for his closeness to Vladimir Putin, who is waging war on Ukraine. So Everton have ditched three commercial deals with Russian firms linked to Usmanov – USM, MegaFon and Yota – and cannot now go ahead with the naming rights contract.

A club source acknowledges that the cancelled naming rights deal will mean spending less on players.