Exclusive: Alisher Usmanov was present for Frank Lampard's Everton job interview

Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire sanctioned by the European Union for his “particularly close ties to Vladimir Putin”, was present over Zoom when Frank Lampard attended an interview with the Everton board to become the club’s head coach.

Telegraph Sport understands Usmanov was on a Zoom call with Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri at the time when Lampard, the club’s board and former player Tim Cahill gathered in Moshiri’s office for the interview. It is understood that Usmanov directed one question to Lampard.

Everton insist that Moshiri had been concluding a Zoom call with his associate Usmanov, that any interaction would have been conversational and that the 68 year-old was not part of the process to interview or appoint Lampard.

The Goodison Park club have always maintained that the relationship between Everton and Usmanov has been purely commercial, despite questions over the level of his influence.

Lampard, who answered the question put to him, has never met Usmanov personally and has had no interaction with him since. During and since his appointment, he has primarily dealt with and reported to Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale.

Usmanov does not occupy any position at Everton, but holds commercial links with the club and is an associate of Moshiri through the company USM Holdings which is owned by Usmanov and of which Moshiri is the chairman.

USM Holdings sponsors Everton’s training ground and Usmanov also has an exclusive naming-rights option on the new stadium, for which USM paid £30 million. MegaFon, a company of which Usmanov is the majority shareholder, and Russian smartphone company Yota, which is part of the MegaFon group, sponsor Everton women.