Rob Lloyd, the property tycoon who represents an unknown client, has made a formal proposal to buy Portsmouth with Andrew Andronikou, the club's administrator, having flown out to Hong Kong last week to meet Balram Chainrai, the club's largest secured creditor to discuss a possible deal.

Lloyd told the Guardian: "We made the proposal to Andrew on Monday and the next step is now to arrange a meeting to move the process forward. That should happen by the end of the week."

Andronikou is today meeting the French-Moroccan party who are also interested in buying the club, after the prospective new owners flew into England to hold meetings with the administrator in London.

Andronikou will dine with the party this evening and it is understood the administrator is hopeful that a deal with either of the parties can at last be done to sell the troubled club, which last week had a CVA voted through by its creditors.

Andronikou told the Guardian: "As the administrator we have to sell Portsmouth now — not in three months or six months but now, so Portsmouth can move forward."

Tal Ben Haim, the Israel central defender, is likely to join West Ham on a free transfer from Portsmouth "by Monday", according to a highly placed source at Fratton Park.

The left-back Nadir Belhadj has also attracted interested from Italy and France, with the 28-year-old, who starred in Algeria's 0-0 draw with England in last week's World Cup group match, valued at £4.5m.