Although the American billionaire has an open mind about buying Everton, he is currently struggling with major financial problems at Lyon.

John Textor has insisted Lyon are unlikely to be relegated after the club were handed heavy fines over financial concerns.

US businessman who tried to add it earlier this year Everton The fight broke out after French football authorities handed Lyon temporary relegation and a transfer ban due to concerns about their accounts. The Ligue 1 club is owed more than £400 million.

Textor said at a press conference in response to the penalty on Saturday: “We will not be relegated, we have no chance. I know our situation has aroused some skeptics. Premier League System that penalizes clubs differently. We have resources that go far beyond the club. Even if we fail in all our €700 million global initiatives, our owners will not let the group go bankrupt. “There is no chance of us being relegated.”

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Textor’s confidence appears to stem from his belief that the DNCG, the financial watchdog of professional clubs in France, is mistakenly focusing on Lyon’s accounts and not on the wider picture of Eagle Football Holdings, whose stakes in other clubs he controls. as well as a 45% stake in Brazilian side Botafogo and Crystal Palace.

He said: “There are smart people at DNCG but they work within a system and don’t want to look at the global scale of what we do. DNCG needs to digest a lot of figures in a very short time. We are a large organization and it is important to realize that all our clubs contribute to our services.” “It’s collaborating, our financial services are collaborating.”

Textor had begun his public pursuit of Everton, which began at the end of last season and accelerated after the Friedkin Group withdrew from talks with Blues owner Farhad Moshiri in July. Textor recently claimed that it was 24 hours away from reaching a deal when the Friedkin Group resurfaced and reached an agreement with Moshiri. But Textor’s ambitions for Everton were always limited as long as he had a stake in Palace.