Portsmouth hit by Stefanovic blow

Stefanovic is a Serbia & Montenegro international

Portsmouth have been hit by a Home Office decision to refuse their £1.85m signing Dejan Stefanovic a work permit.

The Serbia and Montenegro international has not met the criteria for a permit because he has not played in 75% of his country's matches in the last two years.

Pompey claim this is due to the 28-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday player suffering from a string of injuries.

They will also call on Vitesse Arnhem, from whom they signed Stefanovic, and the Serbo-Montenegrin Football Association for assistance.

Fratton Park boss Harry Redknapp beat off competition from Scottish champions Rangers to land the defender on a three-year deal.

"He's going to be a great player for us," Redknapp told the club's website after clinching the deal.

"He brings a lot of experience to the back and is solid on the left-hand side. He's a great signing."

He added: "He's a terrific passer of the ball - he passes like a quality midfielder - and he's fantastic in the air.

"He really wants to win and loves it in England. He's going to spend the rest of his life here and bring up his kids in England.

"Rangers came in strong for him at the end, but he'd already made up his mind that he wanted to come to us."

Stefanovic, who started his professional career at Red Star Belgrade, played for Wednesday when the club were in the Premiership from 1995 until 1999.

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