MSP Capital, a US investment firm, is considering making an investment in Everton and have held initial discussions.

Farhad Moshiri, Everton’s major shareholder, has made it clear for some time that he is looking for another group to come in and provide backing to help bolster the club’s finances and see through the completion of their £500million new stadium development.

A report in Bloomberg said that MSP, which was founded by Jeff Moorad – a former sports agent – and the American-Iranian businessman Jahm Najafi had been engaged in preliminary discussions with Moshiri, a British-Iranian billionaire.

Najafi, a minority investor in the Phoenix Suns basketball team, was photographed at Goodison Park for the recent game against Southampton, which was notable for the fact Everton’s board of directors had been advised to stay away owing to threats to their security.

There was a report earlier this week that suggested Moshiri, who became Everton’s major shareholder in February 2016, was looking to sell up completely. He holds a 94 per cent investment, after buying more shares in January 2022.

But he insisted during an interview with a Fan Advisory Board member, which was published on Everton’s official website on Tuesday, that it was his intention to find more financial support to help achieve ambitions.

Moshiri said: ‘The club is not for sale but I've been talking to top investors, real quality, to bridge the gap on the stadium. 

'I can do it myself and the reason I want to do it is to bring top sport investors into Everton for some of the reasons that the fans want improvement, more talent, and we are close to having a deal done.

‘It's not selling the club at all. It's just bringing more expertise in terms of global sponsorship, in terms of commercial development and a lot of specialist sport investors have this pool of knowledge. It's to secure that for Everton.’