Tony Adams insists he has not given up hope of keeping Jermain Defoe, despite the striker revealing he has received death threats from angry fans incensed by his desire to rejoin Harry Redknapp at Tottenham.

The Portsmouth manager remains hopeful the England striker will be available for next week's Premier League match against Manchester City. Tottenham are not thought to be prepared to pay the £20million that Portsmouth are asking, but Juventus last night joined Manchester City in declaring their interest.

"Jermain is still a Portsmouth player and maybe I'll make a point of talking to him on Monday when he returns to training because people often change their minds, don't they," he said.

"It happened here with Joe Jordan (former first-team coach) after Harry left. All the time Joe was going to stay. Then suddenly he went to Spurs, bless him.

"I'm not going to confirm any bids through the press. All I'm saying is I'm hopeful Jermain will be available for next week's game here against Manchester City and then we'll see about the replay at Bristol."

Defoe joined Portsmouth from Tottenham for £7.5m a year ago, and has scored 15 goals in 31 Premier League appearances. He was an automatic selection until Tony Adams took over from Redknapp in October. The two fell out over Defoe’s omission from the team that played Arsenal last weekend. Spurs initially tabled a £10m bid for the player, which was rejected. Chairman Daniel Levy increased that by £2m last night, but with no success.