Fulham deal is now off

This claim was then strongly refuted by Fayed, who insisted that Fulham were not for sale. His spokesman said club directors only met the investors "out of courtesy".

But the Falyalis hit back saying that their interest was genuine.

A Cyprus-based spokesman said: "Fayed is playing a cheap trick in order to raise the price of his club. He invited us to Craven Cottage, the training ground at Motspur Park and to Harrods to meet him and discuss our purchase of the club.

"We had been negotiating for around a month before we were invited for the visit and had made an offer of £85m, not £35m.

"Fayed wanted £110m and negotiations were based on finding an acceptable figure between the two."

To underline their case, the Falyalis released a fax purportedly sent by Jeff Byrne, Harrods' director of legal affairs, making arrangements for them to meet Fayed.

The fax also requests details of which family members and financial advisers would be attending the meeting and a letter of "good standing" from Turkish Is Bank.

But it appears the Turkish interest was taken less seriously than the brothers had hoped.

Fulham insiders claim Fayed never met the Turkish visitors. Instead he is said to have spent all afternoon with his legal adviser before attending a gala dinner in aid of the Royal Society for the Blind. It is also understood the club, as a matter of policy, ask for a bank reference from any potential investor whose business background is not wellknown.

Tom Cassidy, a spokesman for Fayed, said: "They asked to meet with the chairman. The lawyer then asked who they would be sending to the meetingand, on the basis of their replies, no meeting took place. There have been no negotiations at all. No offers or negotiations, nor will there be."

The Falyalis are also unhappy that the media were tipped off ahead of their visit. Their spokesman added: "The press were in the ground and the stadium, so they must have been there with someone's permission. We were upset about this."