Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov eyes a return to Everton football club

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has been linked with a return to English Premier League club Everton as its American owners explore a sale, although British sanctions that freeze his assets would rule out any deal while they remain in place.

Alan Brazil, a British sports radio presenter and former Scotland striker, said on air on Friday that he had heard Usmanov wanted to invest in the club again. "I can't confirm it, but I hear that Usmanov is trying to get back in at Everton," Brazil said. "He has got some serious, serious money."

Brazil said Usmanov "was behind" Farhad Moshiri, the British-Iranian businessman who controlled Everton from 2016 until 2024, and that he appeared to be trying to "plough a load of dough into Everton."

Everton has said it will not comment while the sale process is under way.

Owners open to a sale

The talk follows an Oct. 9 announcement by The Friedkin Group, the Texas-based company of American billionaire Dan Friedkin, that it is "exploring new investment options" for Everton, "including the potential sale of a controlling interest." The group, which also owns Italian club AS Roma, said it would "only entertain interest from parties who we strongly believe will be the right stewards" of the club. It has hired investment bank Moelis & Company to run the process.

Friedkin bought Moshiri's 94% stake in Everton in December 2024, ending a long search for new owners. Under its control, the club moved in 2025 into its new Hill Dickinson Stadium on Liverpool's waterfront.

Sanctions still in force

Usmanov, 73, cannot do business in Britain while he remains on its sanctions list. The British government designated him on March 3, 2022, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, freezing his assets and banning him from entering the country. In April 2025, Britain also disqualified him from serving as a company director. The United States has kept him on its own sanctions list.

The European Union removed Usmanov from its sanctions list on Sept. 22 after France, backed at one point by Slovakia, pressed for his release on national security grounds. Britain has kept its own sanctions in place. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have since imposed national restrictions on him.

Usmanov has denied having close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the main justification the EU gave when it sanctioned him in 2022. A court in Hamburg later ruled that allegations in a U.S. magazine article cited by the EU, which described him as fronting for Putin, were false.

Old ties to Everton

Usmanov is a longtime business partner of Moshiri. The two men co-owned Red and White Holdings, the vehicle through which Usmanov became Arsenal's second-largest shareholder before he sold out to Stan Kroenke in 2018. Moshiri sold his Arsenal shares in 2016 to buy into Everton.

Usmanov's companies then became important commercial partners of the Merseyside club. In 2017, USM Holdings, whose shareholders include Usmanov and Moshiri, signed a five-year deal that renamed Everton's training ground USM Finch Farm. In January 2020, USM paid £30 million ($40 million) upfront for an exclusive option on the naming rights to the new stadium.

Everton cut those links on March 2, 2022. "The club can confirm that it has suspended with immediate effect all commercial sponsorship arrangements with the Russian companies USM, Megafon and Yota," it said at the time.

Questions over Usmanov's influence at Everton lingered after the break. In 2023, documents suggested that companies linked to Usmanov had provided Moshiri with more than £400 million ($530 million) in funding or other benefits. Both men have disputed those reports.

Born in Uzbekistan, Usmanov built his fortune in metals and mining. He holds a 49% stake in USM, which controls Russian iron ore producer Metalloinvest and has an interest in mobile operator MegaFon.