Harry Redknapp admits to ‘breaking all rules’ when he signed Jermain Defoe for Portsmouth from Tottenham… but former Spurs and West Ham boss is set to escape FA punishment for tapping up

• Harry Redknapp signed Jermain Defoe for £7.5million for Portsmouth in 2008
• The ex-Portsmouth boss revealed the 2008 claim in a new film about the striker
• IAN LADYMAN: If I needed a new heart, I’d want Harry Maguire’s! Listen to It’s All Kicking Off

Harry Redknapp has publicly admitted to ‘breaking all the rules’ when he signed Jermain Defoe for Portsmouth.

In a new documentary about Defoe, which is released at the end of the month, the former England striker is asked how his 2008 move from Tottenham came about and says: ‘It was Harry Redknapp. I remember getting a phone call.’

Redknapp then accepts that Defoe’s recollections are ‘probably’ correct and that he was ‘breaking all the rules’. The ex-Portsmouth boss adds: ‘If he was under contract at Tottenham, he can’t be talking to me. I could be called up before the FA over this.’

Although Redknapp retired from management in 2017, the FA would still have the power to sanction the 76-year-old.

However, the governing body have indicated they are prepared to turn a blind eye to Redknapp’s apparent admission of tapping up, with sources telling Mail Sport they have no plans to investigate the matter further having watched the footage.

It was unclear on Thursday night whether the Premier League could look into the matter themselves, but they suggested it would usually require a club to make an official complaint.

Defoe’s switch to Fratton Park 16 years ago has already been under scrutiny after it emerged in November that an unlicensed agent was used during the negotiations. Following an investigation into the transfer by The Times, the FA initially said they were ‘looking at the case’, before later closing it without any further action.

Defoe joined Portsmouth from Tottenham for £7.5million on January deadline day in 2008 but a year later he re-signed for Spurs for £15m after Redknapp had moved there as manager.

In his film, Defoe also appears to suggest Redknapp personally contacted him again about returning to White Hart Lane. He says: ‘I had a little smile to myself and thought, “OK, just wait for the phone to ring”. I knew what was going to happen.’

Later in the documentary, Defoe also admits to receiving a text message from then Sunderland manager Gus Poyet before joining the Black Cats from MLS side Toronto in January 2015.

Defoe says: ‘The text said, “Have we got a chance? Gus”. So I said to Gus, “If you speak to Toronto, I’ve got permission to talk. I’d love to be back in the Premier League”.’

Rule T.1.2. of the Premier League handbook states that a club can only approach a player ‘with the prior written consent of the club to which he is contracted’. Individuals can be punished by fines or bans, while clubs can be hit with transfer bans or even points deductions.

Redknapp was previously accused of tapping up Blackburn defender Andy Todd in a BBC Panorama documentary in 2006, allegations he dismissed at the time as ‘farcical’.

In 2009, the then Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie was quoted as saying: ‘The reality is we all know all managers tap players up.’

Redknapp told Mail Sport on Thursday night: ‘I don’t think there is any transfer that has ever been done in the history of transfers where the manger or somebody at the football club hasn’t spoken to the player or the agent before the deal’s done. It’s just standard. That’s what happens. Anybody who thinks it doesn’t is not in the real world.

‘There is always someone speaking to the player or speaking to the agent before you ever meet officially. Of course it happens. It has happened for ever.’

The FA and Premier League declined to comment.