David Moyes says he was “surprised” by The Friedkin Group’s decision to consider selling a controlling stake in Everton, less than two years after taking ownership of the club.
TFG announced on Friday that it was open to new investment, despite completing its purchase of Everton from Farhad Moshiri in December 2024.
The group said its immediate focus had been providing the stability, investment and support needed to secure Everton’s future, including completing their new stadium. It added that only proposals from parties capable of building on the progress made since the takeover would be considered.
The announcement came after a transfer window which frustrated supporters. Everton accepted a £40m offer from Nottingham Forest for Harrison Armstrong before withdrawing from the deal, while Beto was allowed to join Fiorentina without a replacement being signed.
“Yeah, I was surprised, they’d only come in a year and a half ago,” Moyes said at a news conference.
“Most owners come in for a lot longer than that. We were all expecting them to be here for 20 to 30 years, however long it may be.
“But maybe the way things worked out over the transfer window, I probably had seen through it a little bit before that. It’s probably all there for Evertonians to see now.
“I truly believed that with new ownership who were in for it completely with us all, my ambition coming back was to get Everton back to the levels they’d been at in the past – challenging for Europe more often, being around it.
“And you could probably tell with how I’ve been a lot over the summer that that’s the way it’s been. It’s been a difficult summer for us.”
Everton return to Premier League action at the MKM Stadium against newly promoted Hull City this weekend.
Sergej Jakirovic’s Hull have made an encouraging start to life in the top flight and sit eighth after five matches, one place and one point behind unbeaten Everton.
Hull’s last match before the international break ended in their first league defeat of the season, a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on September 19.
Jakirovic expects a difficult test against an Everton team he believes has quality throughout.
“[They are] still unbeaten. It is very difficult to stay unbeaten. I think they’re very pragmatic, they have high tactical discipline,” he said.
“Good players, international players of England. Also, [Jack] Grealish is there. Maybe he can be the difference at any time. They have experience at this level.
“I am expecting a difficult game on Sunday, but they also have pros and cons, so we will try to use these cons.”
He described Moyes as “an old fox”, adding: “They know everything about football, they have a lot of experience.”
Players to watch
Hull’s Mohamed Belloumi has contributed four goals in the Premier League this season, scoring twice and providing two assists. That is joint-most among Hull players in their first five matches in the competition, alongside Mohamed Diame, who scored four, and Dame N’Doye, who recorded three goals and one assist.
For Everton, Thierno Barry’s expected goals figure of 3.50 is behind only Erling Haaland (4.43) and Alexander Isak (3.54). However, Barry has scored two goals, an xG underperformance of -1.5, the third-biggest in the league this season.
Match facts
Everton average 2.2 goals per game against Hull in the Premier League – 22 in 10 meetings – more than against any other side they have faced at least three times. They have scored twice or more in eight of those games.
Since the start of 2021-22, Everton have won only two of 15 away Premier League matches against newly promoted teams (D8 L5), beating Burnley 2-0 in 2023-24 and Ipswich 2-0 in 2024-25.
They are unbeaten in five league matches this season (W2 D3) and could avoid defeat in their opening six for a third time, after 2006-07, when they went unbeaten in their first seven, and 2013-14.
Hull have two wins, three draws and five defeats in 10 Premier League meetings with Everton. Both victories came at home: 3-2 in November 2009 and 2-0 in January 2015.
The Tigers are the only team yet to concede at home in the Premier League this season. They could become the third promoted side to keep clean sheets in each of their first three home matches, after Swansea City in 2011-12, who did so in their first four, and Watford in 2015-16.
Opta win probability: Hull City 28.4%, draw 25.9%, Everton 45.7%.
