West Ham owner ready to consider sale

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Sources claim there is a "cash rich" buyer waiting in the wings as pressure continues to mount on Gudmundsson with the Icelandic Government now contemplating freezing the assets of some of its top businessmen to help investors caught in the country's banking crisis.

This is currently only a threat but could develop over the next few days. The British Government has also raised the possibility of seizing Icelandic-owned assets in this country, but West Ham's parent company, WH Holdings Ltd, is registered in the UK and unlikely to be affected.

Gudmundsson is thought to have a 95 per cent stake in WH Holdings, which bought the club for £85m in November, 2006.

Gudmundsson took a massive hit on his personal fortune when Landsbanki was nationalised. He was axed as chairman of the bank and there are now serious concerns about some of his other business interests, including a shipping company that he owns.

West Ham are not thought to owe any money to Landsbanki, but it is believed that Gudmundsson may sell the club to recoup some of his personal losses. He has already said there would be no further investment in West Ham and that manager Gianfranco Zola would have to sell players before bringing in any new signings. With no sign of the credit crunch easing it is now thought he is ready to put the club up for sale.

Indian businessman Anil Ambani, the sixth-richest man in the world, worth an estimated £24billion, has already been linked with buying the Hammers.

The 49-year-old billionaire who is head of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the largest business house in India, is keen to get ownership of a Premier League club although there was growing speculation in the City this morning that several other potential owners are interested in West Ham.

The Premier League's chairman Sir David Richards called club directors yesterday to seek reassurances over the finances, but West Ham insist that they are largely unaffected by the situation in Iceland.