Portsmouth is set to become the latest English football club to have a wealthy Arab owner, it emerged last night.

Sulaiman al-Fahim, an Abu Dhabi-based businessman who stars in an Arab version of The Apprentice television show, struck a provisional deal to buy the club for an undisclosed sum from its Franco-Russian owner, Alexandre Gaydamak, after talks with Peter Storrie, the club’s executive chairman, in Rome on Tuesday night.

If concluded, the deal, subject to due diligence, will end months of speculation that Gaydamak was looking to offload 'Pompey' after spending more than £30m to acquire control from previous owner Milan Mandaric in 2006.

Financial Times