Everton's owners 'don't care about Europe' as complications emerge - Stefan Borson

The Friedkin Group (TFG) may never have included European football in their five-year plan as Everton's new owners.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Toffees' American owners were always going to face a problem in Europe.

With AS Roma now rising up the ranks in Serie A, and looking like a squad that will qualify for Europe more, there is a new complication on Merseyside.

UEFA rules will not allow for both Roma and Everton to compete in the same competition, being owned by TFG.

Of course, David Moyes' side missed out on Europe in 2025-26, but the Scot's overall ambition will be to finish as high as possible in the Premier League table.

However, the owners are being accused of having very different ambitions, especially after an extremely frustrating summer transfer window at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

TFG's 'five-year plan' might not include Europe

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson believes that Europe may never have been part of TFG's plan short-term plan at the Hill Dickinson.

"I don't know what they believed they'd sorted in terms of a clash had they ended up in the same competition," he said.

"Maybe it was something to do with the fact that Dan Friedkin had never been to Everton. So he could legitimately argue he had no control at all, but it just isn't the way the tests work.

"If you read the tests, it was always likely that they were going to have a problem. Maybe they don't care about Europe; I don't know.

"Maybe they see the Everton project as being about the next five years without Europe, rather about building the club slowly, very slowly, up.

"And then, if you're not worried about Europe, then you can take a different view."

What are Everton's chances of European qualification this season?

Despite a strong 2025-26 campaign, the Toffees did end up missing out on European football by quite a considerable margin.

Moyes would have wanted to better his team's chances of finishing higher up the league table, but the summer window was incredibly overwhelming.

According to Opta, the Toffees are likely to finish eighth in the Premier League, with a 14.17 per cent chance of securing Champions League football.

Chances of Europa League qualification drops to 6.97 per cent, while there is a 7.54 per cent chance of Europa Conference League coming to the Hill Dickinson.