Everton chief Kevin Thelwell ‘set to leave’ as Friedkin Group begin major ‘restructuring’

Kevin Thelwell is set to leave his role as Everton’s sporting director at the end of the season as part of the Friedkin Group’s restructuring of the club.

The 51-year-old took up his role with Everton in 2022 after previous stints with the Red Bull group and Wolves and has had mixed success with transfers.

Thelwell has had to deal with a multitude of challenges during his time with the Toffees and has largely had to complete transfers and loans on a shoestring budget.

According to Paul Joyce of The Times, Thelwell will leave Everton at the end of the season when his contract expires and it ‘remains unclear whether a direct replacement will be brought in or the club move in a different direction.’

The decision is ‘understood to be amicable’, as TFG looks to ‘put its own stamp on the club’ after taking over in December of last year, per the report.

As we have previously reported, Leeds United’s CEO Angus Kinnear is expected to join Everton before the start of next season, when the Toffees will move into their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

TFG could look to bolster the Everton hierarchy by creating new positions and therefore, someone may not come in under the sporting director title, but in another position with similar responsibilities.

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Kevin Thelwell to leave Everton, David Weir linked

As we reported last week, TFG have been conducting an in-detail 100 day review of Everton, which is now close to being completed, and a host of big decisions are set to be made.

Everton have eight players out of contract in the summer so TFG and David Moyes will have to decide which of those to offer extensions to.

The decision to part ways with Thelwell comes amid TFG’s review.

Thelwell was key to the signings of Iliman Ndiaye and Jake O’Brien last summer, both of whom have got off to good starts with Everton. He also helped bring in Jesper Lindstrom, Orel Mangala and Armando Broja on loan, who have got mixed reviews. Charly Alcaraz was signed on loan in January and has started well.

Looking further back, Thelwell also helped to sign striker Beto from Udinese in the summer of 2023, who got off to a slow start but has been excellent since Moyes’ re-appointment as manager.

Perhaps Thelwell’s biggest mistake was signing striker Neal Maupay from Brighton for £15m in his first summer in the role. Maupay went on to score just once in 32 games for the Toffees and was a poor fit for their system under previous manager Sean Dyche.

It will be interesting to see who Everton look to bring in to fill the void that’ll be left by Thelwell. Brighton technical director David Weir, who spent eight years with the Toffees as a player, has been heavily linked with the Merseyside club of late.

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