Defoe and Benjami bid to beat deadline

LONDON, England -- Jermain Defoe was poised for a deadline-beating move from Tottenham to Portsmouth after the clubs agreed a fee for the striker who earlier on Thursday was omitted from Fabio Capello's first England squad.

"He will be a great signing for us," said Pompey boss Harry Redknapp who in turn agreed to sell Zimbabwean international marksman Benjami Mwaruwari to Manchester City.

Defoe agreed terms and passed a medical, but the transfer could not be finalised until Benjami signed for City.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have completed the signing of left-back Gilberto from Hertha Berlin.

The 25-year-old Defoe is out of contract at Spurs at the end of next season and had been linked with a move while negotiations over a new deal have been unresolved.

Defoe has been denied regular opportunities under new head coach Juande Ramos, with the Spaniard preferring Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.

"Jermain is a top player," Redknapp added on Sky Sports News. "I signed him at West Ham when he was 15.

"He's too good not to play and I think he's a fantastic goalscorer. It will be great to have him here."

City were hoping to complete a pre-midnight move for Benjami who was said to have agreed personal terms with manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Despite a slow start to his Portsmouth career after signing in a $9million move from Auxerre in January 2005, the African has blossomed with 12 goals this season, including two hat-tricks.

This, together with Benjani's prodigious work-rate has clearly alerted City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson who loaned out strikers Georgios Samaras to Celtic and Rolando Bianchi to Lazio in the last week.

The 19-year-old Ecuador international Felipe Caicedo has reportedly completeed his move from Swiss side FC Basle to City for a fee of around $10million.

There was plenty of interest from clubs in Spain and Italy for Caicedo, but his agent Saif Rubie said: "He's just agreed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Manchester City -- he's over the moon and can't wait to get over here.

"It's taken the best part of two months to come together and the player respects the fact Sven-Goran Eriksson wanted to sign him -- he wanted to play under Sven."

Filippo Mancini, the 17-year-old son of Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini, has also signed for City, the Italian club said Thursday. Mancini had been on trial at Eriksson's club for a week.

Another major deal which looks poised to go through should see Brazilian striker Afonso Alves finally seal his move to Middlesbrough from Heerenveen, after he successfully gained a work permit on appeal.

The 27-year-old has agreed a four-and-a-half year deal with the Premier League club, worth almost $30million, and was on Teesside putting the finishing touches to the deal.

Alves was in the crowd at the Riverside for Tuesday's 1-0 Premier League win over Wigan having started the process of undergoing his medical. E-mail to a friend