BENJANI MWARUWARI will discover tomorrow whether he is a Manchester City player or whether he stays with Portsmouth. The Premier League will complete their examination of the paperwork and give their verdict soon after. A spokesman for Portsmouth said the club were confident the deal would finally be agreed.
"The big loser in all this has been Benji," said Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager.
"You couldn't meet a nicer boy and he's sitting up there in a hotel in absolute limbo. Hopefully, it will be resolved soon and he'll go to City. If not, he'll come back here."
The sticking point for Manchester City is the initial £7.6m evaluation of the 29-year-old striker, who cost Portsmouth £4.4m from Auxerre two seasons ago. City were unhappy that the player, having missed two flights to Manchester, only arrived at the club 45 minutes before the transfer deadline, too late to undergo a full medical.
Portsmouth, believing the deal had gone through, completed the purchase of Jermain Defoe from Tottenham for £9m, a new club record. The complications surfaced the following morning when Benjani's signature was left off a form, not one that would jeopardise the deal, according to Portsmouth.
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Mwaruwari, who has scored 12 goals this season, stayed in Manchester yesterday to watch his potential new club rather than travelling back south to see his replacement, Defoe, score the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea. City were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal.