John Textor has claimed he was ’24 hours away’ from a takeover of Everton.
Textor was gazumped to a buyout of the Goodison Park club in September, when The Friedkin Group reignited their interest to strike a deal with Farhad Moshiri.
The 59-year-old unofficially fired the starting pistol on the battle for control in the summer and appeared all set to take the reins prior to the Friedkins’ return.
But Textor’s remarks saw him rebuked by Blues officials, who insisted that his public remarks about Sean Dyche did not reflect their views during ongoing negotiations.
He has now claimed that a deal was far closer than anticipated before the owners of Roma swooped in to brokeer an agreement with majority shareholder Moshiri.
“In England, we thought we were very close to Everton. I think I’ll probably say it for the first time publicly now,” Textor told Ole via SportWitness.
“We didn’t realise that we were 24 hours away, our documents were ready, and we were ready to send the money and they were still going through a bidding process with another buyer.
“Sometimes you can achieve a lot with a handshake. Other times you need more than a handshake. That was a situation where we lost because we were too confident in the outcome.
“So I make mistakes, the Everton thing didn’t happen, there’s probably a reason for that. I think there are reasons for everything.
“I think we’re going to end up with a better situation in the Premier League, and there’s a reason why that didn’t happen and something else will.”