New names emerge in Everton takeover talk
Everton have been stuck in limbo for months after the announcement back in September that Farhad Moshiri had agreed to sell all his shares to US investment group 777 Partners.
Since then, Blues supporters as well as the manager and his players have been waiting for the Premier League to complete their due diligence tests and give a yes or no to the deal.
But that process has dragged on and still had not been resolved before 777 Partners agreed time frame for completing their takeover ran out at the end of May.
While all this was going on the Toffees were undergoing a season of unprecedented chaos and confusion on the pitch with two points deductions very nearly relegating the club.
Fortunately in the end, Everton did avoid the drop with games to spare but even so the club is still mired in horrendous debt going into a hugely important summer transfer window.
That financial situation is made worse of course because the Blues are still without an owner for the future and with no clarity of who, if anyone, will be taking control of the club anytime soon.
And so this means it will be very difficult for Kevin Thelwell and Sean Dyche to plan and make any signings to improve a squad that certainly needs improving.
Several other parties have been linked with a possible move to put a takeover deal on the table, most prominently American businessman John Textor.
He is currently a shareholder in Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and needs to divest himself of his shares in the Eagles before he could move to takeover Everton.
Now other names are emerging to show interest. Two of them are Evertonians backed by Micheal Dell who is one of the wealthiest individuals in the World.
Alongside them Roma owner Dan Freidkin is also allegedly another individual who might consider making a bid for the club.
All of this is encouraging but the key thing is how genuine and serious are all these people about potentially taking over the Toffees, and how long it will take for them to complete a deal.