Everton's board are expected to throw their support behind a £20 million investment plan proposed by a Russian millionaire family at a meeting today, with the chairman Bill Kenwright hopeful the deal will be the prelude to further injections of funds into the club.

The Zingarevich family are worth an estimated £362 million and are proposing to buy about 40 per cent, equating to a controlling stake, in Everton through a special share placing. The money will be issued via a trust fund established in Brunei with Anton Zingarevich, the 24-year-old son of Boris Zingarevich, the 75th-richest man in Russia, to play a hands-on roll in the running of the Premiership club.

While negotiations over the investment package have not been helped by the disclosure of the identity of the scheme's main backers at the weekend, the Russians remain committed to the plan which will ease Everton's financial predicament.

Everton are saddled with debts approaching £40 million, albeit with much of that securitised, and need to add to their squad before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

Should the proposals be ratified by the club's shareholders, the Russians would retain Kenwright as chairman. The theatre impresario has been searching for new investors for the last four years and, to that end, had employed the agent Jerome Anderson to scour Russia and the United States for industrialists eager to buy into a Premiership football club. That search turned up the Zingareviches.

Anton Zingarevich subsequently set up a trust fund - the Fortress Sports Fund - with the Switzerland-based businessman Chris Samuelson of Mutual Trust Geneva, with the first major investment from that fund earmarked for Everton. The money in the fund is currently from the Zingarevich family fortune, though the trust will be open to other investors in the future.

Samuelson is expected to join the board at Goodison Park, with Anton also to be involved in day-to-day club business. The group hope to restore Everton to a prominent position domestically and on the continent, with a proportion of their initial cash injection to be handed to David Moyes for transfers. That is likely to see the Liverpool defender Djimi Traore cross Stanley Park for £1 million while Everton also retain their interest in Internazionale's Holland winger Andy van der Meyde, who would cost £4.75 million.

Everton's three-man board, which was split this summer after Kenwright and the director Paul Gregg fell out over the way the club was being run, are due to discuss the proposals at a meeting this afternoon. Given that Kenwright retains the support of the third director, Jon Woods, the scheme is likely to be given the go-ahead to be voted on by the shareholders, with the club's bankers, Barclays, satisfied that there is evidence of funding. Due diligence will be completed this week, with only a counter-proposal from Gregg likely to scupper the plan.

The Russians had been keen to preserve their anonymity and will have been dismayed by reports over the weekend which identified Boris Zingarevich, a 44-year-old entrepreneur based in St Petersburg, as the latest foreign millionaire hoping to make an impact in the Premiership. Zingarevich - who is involved in a long-running legal dispute with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in Moscow - amassed his fortune with his brother, Mikhail, in pulp and paper manufacturing.

The brothers founded Ilim Pulp Enterprises, the country's largest firm in the industry with annual revenues approaching $1 billion and 42,000 people on its payroll. But, while Boris's money is involved, he is not the primary mover and shaker behind the scheme, with Anton having flown to Liverpool over the weekend to continue talks. Zingarevich Jr attended Everton's 3-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The influx of Russian money will increase the chances of the England striker Wayne Rooney signing a new five-year contract at Everton, albeit a deal which will include a get-out clause which will allow him to leave for around £25 million. Rooney is due to start jogging today as he continues his rehabilitation from a broken metatarsal sustained during Euro 2004.