Portsmouth are close to signing Lyon striker Milan Baros on loan until the end of the season.
Pompey boss Harry Redknapp is confident of capturing the Czech international striker.
Redknapp said: “He will make a terrific loan because he knows the English game and it would be nice to have him available this weekend, although there is international clearance and other details to be cleared up yet.
“But Peter Storrie (Pompey’s chief executive) has gone to meet Baros’ agent to do a deal and it’s a great opportunity to add more quality to our squad.
“We are still short of numbers with our players away at the African Nations Cup and one of them, Kanu, getting injured out there. We don’t know yet how bad that injury is, but it seems to be his knee.
“I feel we still need somebody like Baros, who I believe was a Golden Boot winner at the last European Championships for the Czech Republic and I’m very hopeful we will get him.
“Lyon are a good side and they are overloaded with top strikers. The Brazilian Fred can’t get in their team either and will cost about 16million euros. I think Tottenham are trying to buy him.
“If I can get Baros I might still look for another loan or buy somebody else if another club comes in and offers me silly money for one of my team.”
