Everton takeover: Stefan Borson makes claim over American worth $120 billion involved in bid

Football finance expert Stefan Borson insists that American billionaire Michael Dell will only be lending money to prospective Everton owners Andy Bell and George Downing.

The local businessmen are interested in a takeover of the club after 777 Partners’ deal inevitably collapsed. Last year, Bell and Downing helped loan Everton £158 million along with MSP Sports Capital - who are also reportedly keen to buy Everton from majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

Bell and Downing have a reported combined wealth of £950 million, which may not be enough to run Everton. As a result, they have sought funding from Dell - who has a net wealth of £120 billion and is the 10th richest man in the world - through his family office MSD Partners.

Borson, speaking on talkSPORT, insists that Dell would not be involved in running Everton and there may be more people part of Bell and Downing’s consortium. He said: “Immediately, ignore the Dell piece. It's been mis-framed in many places. They are effectively a bank. They're not interested in owning the football club, they lend to multiple parties, he just so happens to be one of the richest men in the world.

“Of course, he has a family office that lends money out to various businesses. I'd depersonalise the Dell aspect. I think it may be that Bell is keener and, therefore, Downing would take a smaller piece. Of course, there will be other people in the background part of the consortium but they [Bell and Downing] will also recognise there needs to be a solution for the club. It can't go on like this.

“They've somehow got through last season on the back of £200 million of funding from 777 and that is not going to be repeatable. They will also not have the breathing space to get into bed with another bidder who is not going to get through the ownership test very quickly.

“They will need somebody who is a first-class bidder who will pass the test comfortably. If they can be a regulated person like Andy Bell is even better and they need somebody with decent-sized pockets. That needs to happen relatively quickly.

“They can probably get through this summer probably with a combination of Premier League money, either being discounted from third-party brought forward from July, or they can sell players. They're clearly going to be resistant to selling players and before 30 June because they'd have to take a haircut on those prices.

“They can probably get through the summer someone but into next season, the challenges they have suffered this season are going to be there and they need a deal. When you look at the best, it is going to be Bell and Downing with other support.”