By Owain Johns
June 10 2004

Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth look to have beaten off competition to sign Leicester City and Wales full-back Ben Thatcher, a move which would keek the defender in the Premiership Portsmouth look to have agreed a fee with relegated Leicester City for Wales left-back Ben Thatcher. Although having 2 more years left at the Foxes, a £100,000 get out clause in his contract allows him to leave the Walkers’ Stadium outfit if the club go down. The likes of Paul Dickov and Ricardo Scimeca have already used this to their advantage and have moved on to Blackburn and West Brom respectively.

Although the 28-year old, Swindon-born defender has reportedly attracted interest from the likes of Everton and Aston Villa, it is believed that Leicester have already agreed a fee with Pompey.

Leicester paid Tottenham £500,000 for Thatcher’s services in July 2000, and he has also had previous spells at Wimbledon and Millwall.

Former England U-21 international Thatcher has established himself as the number one left-back in Mark Hughes’ national side since finding out he could represent the country of his grandmother’s birth after Fifa announced that representing any side other than the main national team doesn’t tie you down to a country.

He was handed his debut in the 2-1 win over Hungary in March and has also figured in the 0-0 draw with Norway and the 1-0 win over Canada.