Sport / Soccer PREMIER LEAGUE INVESTORS Billionaire in Everton deal to satisfy rules Clever footwork sees billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s holding company become the Liverpool-based team’s first training ground partner and will gain certain marketing rights BL PREMIUM

London — Billionaire Alisher Usmanov has come up with a novel way of staying within Premier League investor rules to help longtime business partner Farhad Moshiri, the majority shareholder in Everton Football Club. Usmanov’s holding company will become the Liverpool-based team’s first training ground partner and will gain certain marketing rights, Everton said in a statement, without revealing financial details. The facility has been renamed USM Finch Farm under the terms of the five-year contract. The deal brings Usmanov and Moshiri back together in having ties to the same team. The two men previously had a joint share of a company that owns 30% of the Arsenal Football Club. Premier League rules forbid investors from owning stock in multiple teams, forcing Moshiri to sell his portion to Usmanov in order to complete his acquisition of 49.9% of Everton in 2016. Usmanov, Russia’s seventh richest man, introduced Moshiri to soccer investment, Moshiri told Everton shareholders at the clu...