Everton top players have no relegation clauses ensuring they won't leave cheaply

Everton have moved to protect themselves against some of the financial consequences of relegation by inserting mandatory wage cuts into recently negotiated player contracts and denying release clauses to their most sought-after stars.

Jarrad Branthwaite and Jordan Pickford do not have release clauses, which will enable Everton to auction them off to the highest bidder if they are relegated, while the majority of players who remain will be forced to take pay cuts.

Pickford does not have a mandatory wage-cut clause in the deal he signed last season as Everton reasoned their goalkeeper would demand a transfer if they went down.

The Championship play-off final could be put back a week due to a potential clash with the FA Cup final in the latest sign of a fixture list stretched to breaking point.

Leicester and Coventry could feature in both occasions at Wembley, which at present are scheduled to take place on successive days on the weekend of May 25-26, as both Championship clubs booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals this week on top of their involvement in the promotion race.

Mail Sport has learned the EFL have secured June 2 at Wembley as a contingency date in the event of a clash.

The political clout of Chelsea’s new owners was shown by their guest list for the Carabao Cup final. It included John Kerry, who is serving as Joe Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Kerry was a guest of Chelsea’s co-owner Behdad Eghbali, with Wembley’s hospitality suites full of politicians.

As a former US presidential candidate who narrowly lost to George W Bush in 2004 before being appointed Secretary of State by his successor, Barack Obama, Kerry can claim to have had a more distinguished career than two fellow Wembley guests