Defoe seals move to Pompey but Benjani's City switch falls through

Defoe ended months of speculation regarding his future by deciding to quit White Hart Lane after both clubs earlier agreed a fee. The 25-year-old met Redknapp to talk over the deal before sealing a contract worth around £50,000 a week.

Redknapp, who first signed Defoe as a 15-year-old for West Ham from Charlton, said: 'He will be a great signing for us. He wants and needs to play and a couple of his mates are down here in Glen Johnson and David James.

'I think he is a top player. He is too good not to be playing. It is about moving the club forward, getting better players and it will be great to have him here.'

Although Defoe was surprisingly named captain for Tottenham's Premier League clash with Sunderland last month, he had refused to sign a new deal with the club.

The England international has spent the past two seasons mainly as a frustrated spectator on the bench, a fact which alerted Redknapp who had failed in his attempts to sign him in each of the previous two transfer windows.

Defoe's arrival was set to pave the way for Portsmouth top scorer Benjani to move to Manchester City for the same fee. However, as the deadline came and went City insisted no deal had been completed.

The Eastlands club then revealed in the early hours of this morning that the move was off - because it could not be completed before the end of the January transfer window.

Club spokesman Paul Tyrrell told his club's official website, www.mcfc.co.uk: "Due to the late arrival of the player in Manchester, we were unable to complete the transfer."

City did manage to beat the midnight deadline to sign Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel.

But their hopes of adding 29-year-old Zimbabwean Benjani to their squad foundered on the strict rules of registering new players on time.

The late twist will come as a shock to Pompey boss Redknapp, who only minutes earlier had appeared convinced Benjani was on his way.

He told Sky Sports News: "I'm sorry to be losing 'Benji' - because he's been a terrific player for us."

Instead, Redknapp is likely to have an embarrassment of riches in his forward line when he picks his team to face Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League tomorrow - while City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson must make do with just one new forward.

Nineteen-year-old Ecuador international Caicedo is thought to have moved to Eastlands in a deal worth around £5million, although no fee has been disclosed.

Caicedo featured for his country in last summer's Copa America and has two goals in 15 international appearances.

His four goals in 12 matches for Basel, managed by former Tottenham boss Christian Gross, have helped fire them to the top of the Swiss league.