Welcome to our Everton live blog for Tuesday, September 12.
We are approaching the end of the international break, with only a few games left to be played before the Premier League returns this weekend.
Everton will be in action against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon and will be looking to pick up a first three points of the season.
There is talk of a full takeover of Everton as the club entered advanced talks with American firm 777 Partners.
On a transfer front, there is still the possibility of further exits in the coming days due to the Turkish transfer window still being open. Andre Gomes is understood to be attracting interest from two teams, leaving his future at Goodison Park up in the air.
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Goodnight
That's all from us for the day. Have a good rest of your night and see you in the morning.
Onana helps Belgium to another win
Amadou Onana helped Belgium to another win this evening, completing 90 minutes as his country claimed a 5-0 win over Estonia.
The Eveton midfielder also starred in a 1-0 victory versus Azerbaijan on Saturday.

Everton chasing Glentoran youngster
Everton are claimed to be one of six Premier League clubs considering a move for a 15-year-old forward, who currently plays for Glentoran in Northern Ireland.
Chelsea, Brighton, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Sheffield United are said to be the other sides keen on George Feeney, as reported by the Belfast Telegraph.
The above states the attacker was 'watched by a number of scouts' during a reserve game against Cliftonville yesterday evening.
Training game
Everton were reportedly beaten by Blackpool this afternoon a training game featuring first-team players and a selection of youngsters.
Those taking part were not called up on international duty and have therefore been handed the chance to build fitness ahead of Saturday's game with Arsenal.
A fraction of the Everton squad, including a host of youngsters, played in a training match against Blackpool today. The result finished Everton 0-1 Blackpool
— The Bobble (@ElBobble) September 12, 2023
Lampard on Lyon 'shortlist'
Frank Lampard is claimed to be on Lyon's shortlist as they prepare to appoint a new permanent manager.
The French announced earlier this week Laurent Blanc had left by mutual consent after collecting only one point from their opening four games, which sees them sitting bottom of the table.
One individual they could move for as Blanc's replacement is former Everton boss Frank Lampard, according to 90min.com, who state Lyon are 'considering' appointing the 45-year-old.

Fenerbahce 'taking action' over Gomes
Fenerbahce are said to be 'taking action' over Andre Gomes as they look to strike a deal for the Portuguese midfielder.
The transfer window in Turkey closes on September 15, leaving clubs with three further days to do business, and Gomes has emerged as a potential target for leading clubs in the division.
Sozcu have stated Fenerbahce have added the 30-year-old to their list of targets and will make contact if the manager approves.

777 Partners chief has already hinted at plan amid Everton takeover talk
Everton could be heading for new ownership after reports emerged that American firm 777 Partners were in 'advanced talks' with Farhad Moshiri and his representatives over acquiring his stake in the club.
Multiple outlets have reported the development, which was first broken by Bloomberg on Monday evening, with Moshiri appearing to be edging closer to an Everton exit, albeit one that would see him leave the club with a fraction of the hundreds of millions of pounds he ploughed into the club since acquiring it in 2016.
Miami-based 777 Partners were in talks with Everton earlier this year over taking equity in the club, holding discussions with Moshiri’s representatives. The Toffees, however, entered into an exclusivity period with another American firm, New York-based MSP Sports Capital, with talks centred around a potential £130m deal that would have both provided a tranche of funding for the new stadium build at Bramley Moore Dock but also seen MSP have some element of operational control through an equity stake and seats on the board.
That deal has now changed, with MSP ending plans to take a stake in the club after being unable to reach an agreement over structure due to objections raised around a dilution of security by an existing Everton lender, Cheshire-based Rights and Media Funding Limited. However, and importantly, MSP will continue with the commitment to loan £100m for the stadium build, but that will now be a straightforward loan arrangement as opposed to the loan with warrants that had been initially planned that would have seen MSP take a minority stake in the club.
Read the full story, here.
ODDS: Everton state of play
According to Betfair, Everton are odds-on to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.
Wolves, Bournemouth 2/9
Burnley 1/4
Everton 2/5
Sheff Utd 9/5
Luton 13/5

Branthwaite praises Blues' mentality
That’s crucial for us: showing the spirit and the willingness to win games, to dig in and to get a result. You saw at the end, Pickers’ save shows that no matter what, we’re going to be there until the end to get something from the game.
We’ve just got to build on this after the international break. We’ve got a draw and we have to be fresh for when we come back.
Who are 777 Partners? US firm in 'advanced talks' over Everton takeover
Not for the first time, American investment fund 777 Partners have been linked with a full takeover of Everton.
The Miami-based firm have been linked with the purchase of either a minority or majority stake in the Toffees since the beginning of the year, and according to reports by both Bloomberg and the Daily Telegraph, 777 are now in 'advanced talks' with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri and his representatives over a full takeover of the club.
Moshiri has been seeking to sell some of his 94 per cent shareholding in the club in a bid to recapitalise the business, although it is a challenge that has been made more difficult by relegation fears last season, the need to secure additional finance for the stadium build at Bramley-Moore Dock, and what, if any, punishment is handed down for the alleged breaches of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
The renewed talks come on the back of the collapsed deal for equity in the club through New York-based MSP Sports Capital, whose co-founders Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad came to watch the January defeat to Southampton. MSP entered into a period of exclusivity with over a £150m deal that included £100m in funding for the stadium via a loan with warrants, and the rest for a 25% stake in the business, seats on the board and some operational control. That deal, however, broke down last month due to objections from an existing Everton lender, Rights and Media Funding Limited, over the structure. The £100m loan plan for the stadium through MSP remains intact.
Read the full story, here.
Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce eyeing Andre Gomes
Turkish Super Lig sides Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor and reportedly eyeing a move for Everton midfielder Andre Gomes, according to Turkish publications Sports Digitale and AS Marca.
Gomes, who signed from Barcelona in 2019, has less than 12 months remaining on his current deal at Goodison Park.

Idrissa Gana Gueye coy on international future
Asked whether the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations will be his last for Senegal, he said: "Why do you want me to stop? Honestly, I don’t know, only God knows. We are here to represent our country, to compete. We are competitors and we are always happy to come to the national team.
“The question may arise but personally as long as the body allows, the coach needs me and the people need me, I will respond. So, we’ll see, the future will tell us.”

Everton takeover: Farhad Moshiri in 'advanced talks' with 777 Partners
American investment firm 777 Partners are in ‘advanced talks’ over full takeover of Everton, according to reports.
Late Monday evening, Bloomberg reported that the Miami-based firm, who have controlling stakes in multiple football clubs, were edging towards a deal to take control of the club and bring an end to current owner Farhad Moshiri’s time at the helm.
The Telegraph has now claimed that a deal is at an ‘advanced stage’ and that Moshiri, who acquired a majority stake in the Toffees back in 2016, would be leaving the club with a fraction of the money that he has ploughed into the club over the past seven and a half years.
777, co-founded in 2015 by Joshua Wander and Steven Pasko, have been adding clubs to their multi-club portfolio at pace in recent years, with the firm having targeted largely distressed assets, with acquisitions of Standard Liege, Red Star FC, Hertha Berlin, Genoa, Vasco da Gama and Melbourne Victory all being concluded.
Everton have been seeking external investment for both the club and the stadium for some time. Earlier this summer it appeared that a deal was all but done with New York-based MSP Sports Capital for £150m in funding, £100m of it for the stadium and the rest to recapitalise the club. However, owing to objections from existing lender Rights and Media Funding Limited to various aspects of the deal, the plan for MSP to take an equity share in Everton and operational control was abandoned, although the £100m loan deal remains intact.
Read the full story, here.

What have 777 Partners co-founder has said about potential Everton acquisition
Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times last month, 777 Partners co-founder founded Josh Wander refused to be drawn on a potential takeover of Everton - but insisted claims the Miami-based investment group are "not serious" about their investments is "absurd".
"We have a strong view that there’s a new wave of commercialisation coming to football. (Football clubs) have done a horrible job of commercialising the product," said Wander. “It’s so absurd to me that people say we’re not serious when we bought (stakes in) seven clubs in the last 18 months. Is there anyone in the world that’s been more serious about buying football clubs in history than Josh Wander?”
“The vision for this football group is that one day we’re not selling hot dogs and beers to our customers; [it’s] that we’re selling insurance or financial services or whatever.”

Pogba launches stern defence of Dele Alli's media treatment
Speaking to Al Jazeera, former Manchester United midfielder Paul Poga slammed the way Everton's Dele Alli was treated by the media prior to his tell-all interview with Gary Neville earlier this year.
"I saw Dele Alli do the interview. It is so easy now he's spoken out for everybody to be behind, support him but for so long they've been killing him. But who, when they were killing him, I saw nobody in the media ask him whats going on, mentally and stuff like that.
"We're going through a lot, we grew up to play football, we didn't grow up to get ready for the media. They will bring you up so high, then bring you down to destroy you. I didn't learn to get ready for the negative talk, the criticism - I just came to play football.
"I was with my friends playing, then you get to a first team, you play and score goals, get all the praise, hailed as the best young player. Then, things happened in his life and they're destroying him, no one is asking if he's okay, they don't care.

Manchester United 'not interested' in former Blues Anwar El Ghazi
Despite reports that former Everton forward Anwar El Ghazi could be set for a shock move to Manchester United, The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell has claimed the Red Devils have "no interest" in the 28-year-old, who is a free agent.

Farhad Moshiri transfer strategy shift exposed by surprising Everton net spend revelation
When Farhad Moshiri acquired Everton back in early 2016 it appeared to herald the start of a new, prosperous era for the football club.
Then manager Roberto Martinez spoke of the new finances that had arrived into the club as being able to propel them closer to Champions League football and the riches that came with it.
In February of 2016, speaking via the Guardian, Martinez said: “The investment from Farhad Moshiri will take us to a different level in terms of being able to get there (the Champions League). It can accelerate the process. It is clearly an exciting time.”
The transfer outlay in the early years was heavy and done with the ambition of bridging the gap between the established clubs that had come to near monopolise the top end of the Premier League, the so-called ‘Big Six’, and the Toffees. It was spending ahead of revenue, something not uncommon in business. But without the revenue streams behind them to support that kind of heavy spend the clock was ticking down on Everton to make the top four and gain access to the kind of revenues that would make the spend sustainable.
The likes of Richarlison, Yerry Mina, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michael Keane, Yannick Bolasie, Jordan Pickford, Cenk Tosun, Davy Klaassen and Morgan Schneiderlin all arrived in deals worth £25m or more, while major plays were made to land James Rodriguez to increase the club’s global profile as well as in hiring multiple Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti as boss.
Behind the scenes, the club pressed on with the important process of realising a dream for a new stadium, something that, while costly, is important in terms of Everton being able to compete in the future, handing them far greater access to more revenue streams to help underpin greater transfer spend.
But the flawed strategy around recruitment and execution has meant that the club have been left in a significant financial predicament in recent years, one where cumulative losses over the past five years have exceeded £450m, and where the club faces a Premier League charge over an alleged breach of the League’s profit and sustainability regulations, with a hearing before and independent commission set for next month. The club deny any wrongdoing.
Read the full story from Dave Powell, here.

Takeover latest
According to Bloomberg, Everton are "close to an agreement" to be acquired by investment group 777 Partners.
The Blues have been sounding out potential investment partners for much of 2023 and last month announced that a potential deal with MSP Sports Capital had collapsed.
Now, though, Bloomberg claims a deal between Everton and the Miami-based firm could be announced as soon as Tuesday with the parties in the "late stages of talks".
777 have added a string of football teams to their portfolio in recent years with Serie A side Genoa and former Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin.

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Good morning, Blues
Hello and welcome to today's Everton live blog.
Jordan Pickford is set to star for England this evening as the Three Lions take on Scotland in a friendly fixture, which could see him face off against Nathan Patterson.
Elsewhere, Amadou Onana could star for Belgium and Vitalii Mykolenko for Ukraine.