Everton boss Sean Dyche says planning for next season is difficult due to the uncertainty over the club’s takeover.

Miami-based investment group 777 agreed to buy a 94% stake in the club in September 2023 but the deal is yet to be ratified.

The Premier League have set four conditions to green light the deal but 777 has suffered financial strife in the past month that has threatened the takeover.

“Ever since I got here I have been trying to manage a situation when the goalposts move significantly at any given time,” said Dyche.

“That’s the shifting sands at this football club, currently. I’ve said many times you want to put a base into the football club to build from and it’s not quite there yet.”

Everton were docked a total of eight points by the Premier League this season following breaches of the division’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

The Toffees were initially hit with a 10-point deduction for the first charge but that was reduced to six on appeal, while their appeal for the second four-point charge is set to be heard within the next fortnight.

Everton secured their Premier League status with a 1-0 win against Brentford on 27 April, which provided some much-needed certainty at the club as Dyche looks head to the summer transfer window.

Dyche confirmed the club are assessing transfer targets ahead of the window opening, while owner Farhad Moshiri can sign off contract renewals before any prospective takeover is completed.

“We’re having to manage different situations the best we can,” he said.

Dyche said the club must “keep moving forward” regardless of off-field issues.

Everton host Sheffield United on Saturday in their final home game of the season, before travelling to Arsenal on the last day on 19 May.

Scotland fly-half Finn Russell will start for Bath against Newcastle on Friday after recovering from a “significant” groin problem which has kept him out for the past five weeks.

The 31-year-old sustained the injury during Bath’s Investec Champions Cup defeat by Exeter on 6 April.

Russell will start for Bath at number 10 alongside Ben Spencer at scrum-half when the team travels to bottom-of-the-league Falcons, for the first of their final two regular-season Premiership matches.

Bath are third in the table, one point behind Saracens in second and five points off leaders Northampton, as they aim to secure a top-four spot and place in the play-offs.

Russell’s Scotland team-mate Cameron Redpath will also start in the centre for the first time since recovering from an ankle ligament injury.

Props Tom Dunn and Thomas du Toit also come into the front row, to complete four changes to Bath’s starting XV from the defeat by Saracens in their last outing.

Bayer Leverkusen keep on making history.

Xabi Alonso’s side have ended Bayern Munich’s dominance of German football to win the Bundesliga, they are one game away from reaching a first European final in over two decades, and are on an incredible run of 48 games unbeaten.

That streak is already a record for a team from one of Europe’s big five leagues – the Bundesliga, Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga and Serie A.

But if they can keep it going for just five more games then it could see them pull off arguably one of the greatest achievements in football history – an invincible treble.

With the league title wrapped up, they could still add the German Cup and Europa League to their trophy cabinet this season.

“We want to stay unbeaten and we know every week it gets tougher,” says Alonso.

“Everyone wants to beat us.”

On Thursday, Leverkusen host Roma in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final.

After winning the first leg 2-0 in Italy last week, they are in prime position to progress and raise hopes of a first European trophy in 36 years – something that appeals more for the players than keeping their unbeaten run going.

“If we have to lose some games, such as the second leg 1-0, we will not say no if it takes us to the final,” Leverkusen midfielder Amine Adli said.

“Our mentality is to win every game and we will try to do this. Nothing is done and we’ve seen a lot of comebacks in football in the last year.

“You can never say the job is done.”