Sean Dyche has said talks over his new contract can wait while the “much bigger picture” of the club’s future remains unresolved.
The Everton manager is in the final year of the two-and-a-half-year contract he signed when replacing Frank Lampard in January 2023 and no discussions have yet taken place over an extension. The director of football, Kevin Thelwell, is in the same position.
Everton have seen two proposed takeovers collapse this year, from 777 Partners and the Friedkin Group, and while American billionaire John Textor has held productive talks with Farhad Moshiri over buying the owner’s 94.1% stake there is uncertainty over his ability to complete. Textor would have to sell his 45% shareholding in Crystal Palace and repay or renegotiate a £200m loan from the Friedkin Group before buying Everton.
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Dyche admits a resolution to Everton’s ownership and financial position is more of a priority than his own future. “I have not mentioned it to them and they have not mentioned it to me,” he said.
“I am well aware of the club, I am well aware of the predicament, and the last thing on my mind is my situation. There is a much bigger picture than my situation and that is the club. I have always maintained that. The team, the club and the current situation is calmer, I am sure we would all agree on that, but still not solved and still not sorted. That won’t be an issue for me at the moment. I will keep doing what I do and that is working hard.”
Despite their limited finances Everton have made five signings before their Premier League opener against Brighton on Saturday. However, three have never played in the Premier League – Iliman Ndiaye, Jesper Lindstrøm and Jake O’Brien – while a fourth, 21-year-old Tim Iroegbunam, started only two top-flight games for Aston Villa. Dyche admits the profile of signings is related to the club’s financial situation.
He explained: “A lot of it is the model of the club. We are not cherrypicking, let’s get this right. We are not going around the whole of Europe and saying: ‘We’ll have this player’ because they are out of our price range. But we have seen development, some experience where they have shown they can do it, then can they fit into the Premier League or be developed into the Premier League, what age group are they, what wage structure are they, what fee structure are they? All of that comes into the thinking. We feel with them two [Lindstrøm and Ndiaye], Jake as well, the challenge is: show us what you can do in the Premier League.”