How will expected Everton takeover impact Sheffield United and the Premier League relegation battle?

Florida-based 777 Partners have long been looking to buy a Premier League side, and earlier in the summer were said to be interested in the Blades. Instead, they now look set to win the protracted battle to buy Everton.

In May it was reported 777 had failed in a £600m bid for the troubled Goodison Park club, but after an attempt by MSP Sports Capital to do the deal failed, they have come back to the table and are expected to emerge as the new owners.

The group already own Hertha Berlin of the Bundesliga, Serie A club Genoa, Belgium's Standard Liege, Red Star in France and Brazil's Vasco da Gama, as well as London Lions basketball team. They also have stakes in Sevilla and the British Basketball League.

Everton have been Premier League ever-presents since founding the breakaway league as one of English football's "Big Five" richest clubs in 1992.

But they have not won a major trophy since the 1995 FA Cup and spent the last two seasons fighting relegation – staying in the Premier League by two points in 2023.

That, and a series of bad transfers, have added to the unpopularity of owner Farhad Moshiri. The club had received major financial backing from – and some have even claimed were controlled by – Alisher Usmanov, who had some of his UK assets frozen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine because of his links to Vladimir Putin.

Moshiri and his fellow board members have been so unpopular they stopped attending matches last season claiming threats to their safety, and fan protests around games have been widespread.

Chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance and strategy officer Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp all quit the board in June.

With the cost of a new stadium being built at Bramley Moore Dock expected to far exceed the original £505m estimate, Everton sold or released 13 senior players in the summer – including midfielder Tom Davies, who joined Sheffield United on a free transfer – and signed only five, including Jack Harrison on loan from Leeds United, raising around £35m on transfer fees in the process.

Everton's only point in the first four games of the season came in a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane.

Only newly-promoted Burnley and Luton Town – who both have a game in hand at Kenilworth Road – are yet to get off the mark in the Premier League.

New owners will therefore raise morale at Goodison, which could be important, but there will be limits to how much effect the cash injection can have when the transfer window reopens in January.

Everton face an independent commission on October 25 over allegations they breached the Premier League's financial fair play rules.

Regardless of the outcome they will have to watch their spending having lost more than £430m over the past five years.

Under Premier League rules, clubs are allowed losses of up to £105m over a three-year period, but leeway was made for the Covid-19 lockdowns which saw clubs play in front of empty stadium and spending on areas such as stadium development are excluded.

The bigger concern for Sheffield United, who also had a frugal summer where their two big permanent signings – Cameron Archer and Gustavo Hamer – were effectively paid for by the sale of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, remains finding a new owner themselves, having been up for sale the last couple of years.

Last week chief executive Stephen Bettis told local media moves to find a new buyer were "not moving quickly", suggesting they too are unlikely to get a significant lift in the mid-season transfer window as things stand.