West Ham United looked likely last night to become football’s latest victim of global financial turmoil.

Although the club denied it was up for sale after Bjogolfur Gudmundsson, the chairman, was said to have lost £230 million in the nationalisation of the Icelandic Landisbank, one source close to the club told The Times: “It is open to all comers. The only thing we want to know is where we find a billionaire who has still got all of his money after the credit crunch.”

Other clubs up for grabs include Everton and Newcastle United while speculation mounts that Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur are open to offers and doubts grow that Liverpool and Manchester United will still be in the hands of their American owners by the end of the year.

But with the pool of potential buyers dwindling with every daily drop in share prices, West Ham was beaten to a team of investors as it was announced last night that a consortium from Dubai had bought Charlton Athletic. The Dubai consortium have opted for a “bargain basement” route into football. It is thought to have paid as little as £20 million for the Coca-Cola Championship club, a fraction of the £150 million that West Ham is understood to be asking.

Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s embattled owner, has already run into the problem of finding a buyer who wants a club that is not among the big hitters of the Premier League but still requires millions of pounds in investment. He has delayed selecting a bid until next Friday and is said to have slashed the asking price from £400 million to nearer £280 million.

Meanwhile, Joe Lewis, the reclusive billionaire owner of Spurs, is thought to have tired of the battle to break into the elite of the so-called Big Four English clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Losing Everton, Newcastle and Spurs to foreign buyers would mean a crucial shift in the balance of power: 12 the 20 clubs in the Premier League owned abroad.

Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sports Business Strategy at Coventry University, said: “The Premier League has everything – glamour, money, power - and it is watched in more than 200 countries. Owning a Premier League club is the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.”

But the new owners will need deep pockets as fans demand ever more expensive players. The madness was underlined by the first act of the new Abu Dhabi-based owners of Manchester City, who spent £32.5 million buying Robinho, the Brazilian striker, from Real Madrid. Lord Triesman, the chairman of the Football Association, revealed this week that football’s total debt stood at more than £3 billion.