Portsmouth are on the brink of completing the signing of the Ghana captain Steven Appiah after they made a formal offer to Fenerbahce last night to acquire the midfielder for ?6m.

Appiah, 25, has been targeted by a number of Premiership clubs after an impressive World Cup finals and has made clear his desire to leave Turkey after a ?5.7m move there last summer from Juventus. Harry Redknapp had been tracking Stilian Petrov but, since his likely decision to move to Aston Villa, Portsmouth have turned to Appiah as a replacement.

Fenerbahce are out of the Champions' League, beaten in the qualifiers by Dynamo Kiev, and Portsmouth expect the Turkish club to come back to them with an answer today. Redknapp had previously offered Fenerbahce ?8m for the striker Nicolas Anelka, who eventually elected to join Bolton Wanderers.