He has already approached former Chelsea and France ace Marcel Desailly, who has retired to work on French television, Martin Keown, the ex-Arsenal defender whom Leicester have allowed to leave on a free transfer and now Portuguese veteran Xavier.

The 31-year-old quit German club Hannover in the summer and would be available, but Desailly has already told Redknapp he is happy in his TV job while Keown now looks set to join Wolves.

The manager may be more optimistic about Xavier after being alerted to his availability by an agent.

Redknapp’s backline has fallen apart after a solid start to the season when he claimed he had the strongest squad ever in his time at Pompey.

And the injury jinx is spreading with French striker Vincent Pericard likely to be out for the season with cruciate knee ligament damage and Steve Stone waiting for the results of a scan on his troublesome Achilles injury.

The Pompey winger has been unable to train since last Thursday because of the pain.

He missed the 2-2 draw at Norwich on Saturday, the third straight game he has failed to start.

And his absence leaves Pompey with no natural replacement on the right-hand side of midfield.

Club physio Gary Sadler said: “Stoney trained last week, but when he came in his Achilles was killing him. We’re a little bit concerned because he’s had a similar injury in the past and it’s settled down, but it’s not settling at the moment.”

The results of the scan will determine whether Stone will be fit for Tottenham’s visit to Fratton Park in 13 days or if he faces a longer lay-off.