West Ham could be up for sale

"He is evaluating all of his business interests, including West Ham," said Fridgeirsson.

"West Ham is a well-run club with no debt and is one of Mr Gudmundsson's most important investments."

The 67-year-old was a major shareholder in Iceland's second largest bank, Landsbanki, which went into receivership last month.

Guddmunssson's company, Samson Holdings, this week filed for bankruptcy.

He also took a major hit when travel company XL, who were the Hammers' shirt sponsors, went bankrupt in September.

Gudmunsson had guaranteed a £163million loan made to the company.

He bought the club for £85million two years ago and invested heavily in players in January 2007 as the Hammers fought to avoid relegation.

With that battle successfully won the Irons, under former boss Alan Curbishley, embarked on a further spending spree in Summer 2007, bringing in the likes of Freddie Ljungberg, Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy.

But the plug has been pulled on extravagant spending this year as the credit crunch has bitten.

The Hammers are also facing a compensation claim from Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair.

Despite the financial problems of their owner, West Ham would be an attractive proposition to potential buyers, with a strong fan base, a decent playing squad and one of the best youth academies in the country.

Manager Gianfranco Zola will be selling players in the January transfer window, although he denied he had been told to trim his squad to cut costs.

He said: "We will have a big squad when we have everybody back from injury so I may need to sell some players because not everyone will get a game but I don't have concerns.