The Serbia-Montenegro international, who has vast Premiership experience, will be a boon to a side shown to be lacking in defence during their defeat at Bournemouth last weekend.
And Vincent Pericard has agreed to join Portsmouth for a fee believed to be around half a million.
But in the wake of the collapse of a deal for Wimbledon's Reo-Coker, Harry Redknapp has instead set his targets on disrupting Blackburn's 3 million pound bid for Millwall's Stephen Reid.
The Lion is beleived to be stallling on a move to Lancashire, preferring to stay nearer to London and this may open the door for Portsmouth to move in.
Jim Smith confirmed the interest, stating: "we're at the same stage as Blackburn, we need a midfielder, as we are not a Premiership squad yet'.
But a Blackburn spokesman was unrepentant about the rumours, claiming that Reid was still 'due to talk to us when the Blackburn squad return from the US'.