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El Hadji Malick Diouf joined West Ham last year in a £19m deal and played four matches for Senegal in this summer's World Cup Brentford have signed West Ham defender El Hadji Malick Diouf in a deal worth up to £40m. The 21-year-old Senegal left-back has joined on a five-year contract, with the club having an option to extend it by a further year.

The move sees Brentford paying an initial £35m for the player, with a further £5m in add-ons. Diouf played in West Ham's Championship opener against Burnley, but was excluded from the matchday squads of the Hammers' following two games as a deal was worked on. He was the Bees' priority defensive target in this transfer window, but discussions had stalled this summer before being reopened earlier this week.

Diouf is returning to the Premier League after suffering relegation with the Hammers last season. And his sale represents a big profit for West Ham on a player they paid Slavia Prague £19m for a year ago. "He's a player that fits our ideal age profile, with lots of room to still develop," Brentford head coach Keith Andrews said. Diouf said Andrews had convinced him he could continue to improve at the club.

And when asked about his ambition upon joining his new club said: "Why not win the league?" He is Brentford's fifth summer signing of the summer after the arrivals of striker Callum Wilson, midfielder Mamadou Sangare, centre-back Jannik Schuster and winger Jaidon Anthony. After breaking into the Senegal side last year, Diouf played four times at the World Cup this summer.

While West Ham were relegated after finishing 18th last season, Brentford enjoyed an excellent campaign under Andrews, finishing ninth and just missing out on European football on goal difference.

Nigeria have missed the past two editions of the men's World Cup while the West Africans will also be absent from the 2027 Women's World Cup An interim board has been appointed to lead the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after the organisation's president, general secretary and executive committee all resigned to leave a power vacuum at the top of the sport in the country.

Outgoing president Ibrahim Gusau – whose tenure was set to expire in 33 days – confirmed he was stepping down during a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, saying he had come to the decision "after consultation with family, friends and stakeholders". Elected in September 2022, he had faced mounting scrutiny over the performance of Nigeria's national teams and youth sides but was expected to stand for re-election next month.

Beyond results on the pitch, which have included the Super Eagles missing out on the past two Fifa World Cups, the NFF has faced questions over governance and financial management. The country's President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive reform of the game to overcome "repeated failures" following the resignations of Gusau, general secretary Mohammed Sanusi and the 11 other members of the executive committee.

Emmanuel Ikpeme, who had previously held the post of deputy general secretary, has become interim general secretary and Ademola Olajire, who oversaw the NFF's media and communications department, will be interim deputy general secretary. The NFF elections scheduled for 27 September have been suspended.

The organisation says a fresh electoral process will commence "following the completion of the anticipated comprehensive reforms" which will be undertaken in consultation with world governing body Fifa and the Confederation of African Football. President Tinubu said the aim of the reforms was to build a "stronger, more accountable and successful system" in Nigeria's most popular sport.

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Nicolas Jackson in a deal worth up to £65m, with Ollie Watkins looking set to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. Unai Emery's Villa are undergoing a major overhaul this summer, with key players including Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne having already departed. Jackson, 25, joins a number of new additions including Johan Manzambi, Joao Gomes, Zion Suzuki and Matteo Ruggeri.

That level of squad disruption was evident on the opening weekend, when Emery's side slumped to a 4-0 defeat at Brighton. With Watkins, 30, unavailable and both Tammy Abraham and 17-year-old Brian Madjo injured, Villa started without a recognised centre-forward – Emiliano Buendia led the line. The arrival of Jackson – who overtakes Manzambi to become Villa's record signing – from Chelsea gives Emery a specialist striker to work with.

It also looks set to coincide with the end of Watkins' six-year spell at Villa, during which he scored 108 goals in 278 games and became one of the defining players of the rise under Emery. However, the stats suggest Jackson is not just a like-for-like replacement for the England international – he is a different type of number nine.

On the surface, Jackson's numbers at Bayern Munich last season compare favourably with those of Watkins at Villa. The Senegal forward scored 11 goals and provided three assists in 1,320 minutes across all competitions, averaging 1.0 goal involvements per 90 minutes. Watkins recorded 21 goals and five assists in 3,837 minutes, an average of 0.6 per 90. Jackson also generated more attacking opportunities. He averaged 3.8 shots per 90 compared with Watkins' 2.6, and 2.2 shots on target to 1.2.

His expected-goals (xG) figure was also higher, at 0.7 per 90 compared with 0.5, while he averaged 8.5

World champions South Africa delivered a powerful first-half performance as they edged past New Zealand and levelled 'Rugby's Greatest Rivalry' series at 1-1 with two Tests to play. The All Blacks travelled to Cape Town knowing a win would write them into the history books as the first New Zealand team to win back-to-back Tests in South Africa since the 'Incomparables' of 1996.

But South Africa dominated the basics and showed a more clinical edge this week, even though the lively All Blacks again outscored them on the try count by four to three. New Zealand's fightback ultimately came too late, captain Ardie Savea barging over on 77 minutes to get the game within a score, but on the All Blacks' final attack Boks replacement Cameron Hanekom won a superb turnover that settled the nervy closing stages.

As he did last week, Springboks wing Cheslin Kolbe took on the kicking duties over fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, notching up 18 points in a player-of-the-match performance. The first series in 30 years between these two mighty rugby nations is shaping into an epic, with the third Test back at altitude in Soweto, Johannesburg next Saturday.

The Springbok team that took the field at the Cape Town Stadium was markedly different to the one originally named by head coach Rassie Erasmus on Monday. Fly-half Handre Pollard was fit and then injured and withdrawn in the week, while Kolbe was injured and then fit and eventually named on the wing.

On top of that, Erasmus switched around his whole front row in the hours before kick-off, with the starting trio dropping to the bench and vice-versa. It meant there were five changes in all from the matchday squad announced on Monday and surely would have had the New Zealand management thumbing through the regulations of

The Samba Stars spent two and a half months in England playing against a number of EFL and non-league youth teams In the heat of rural Leicestershire, the Samba Stars are chasing their dream. Head coach Freddie Okyere has just finished a shooting exercise and allows the squad to catch their breath.

The teenagers from the Ghanaian academy, which is backed by former West Ham and Nottingham Forest forward Michail Antonio, have spent two and a half months in England with one goal – impressing clubs and earning a contract. While scouts do visit west Africa, it is rare for academies to travel to the UK to put their players directly in front of professional clubs.

"We created Samba Stars Academy to give young players in Ghana access to elite coaching, shape them as players and create real avenues into the pro game and show how much talent Ghana has." Based in Kumasi while building a new facility in Bompata, just over 100 miles north of Ghana's capital Accra, the Samba Stars' tactic has paid off.

Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester City, Charlton, Preston, Barnsley and Peterborough have all taken players on trial this summer. "The first two or three weeks it hadn't sunk in, but then they saw the facilities we'd be [using] and the teams we were playing," said Okyere. "They want to go and show what they can do. They are hungry, they really want it.

I'm hoping there will be so much interest because we have so much talent here. "With the facilities we will have in Ghana we feel we will be top two, top three [academies]. We hope we can bring the best of Ghana to Europe."

A security officer stands guard on the street following the attempted coup Russia has said its forces helped to repel Saturday's attempted coup in Niger. Explosions and gunfire rang out across capital, Niamey, early in the morning, including at a key military airbase and the presidential palace.

Nigerien forces had repelled the attack "with the assistance of servicemen of the African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defence", the foreign ministry in Moscow said on Sunday. The ministry also said it would continue to support Niger in its fight against "extremists", but that the situation was now under the control of the legitimate authorities headed by President [Gen Abdourahmane] Tiani".

Russia's African Corps has become a key security partner for multiple military governments in the Sahel, who have been struggling to contain long-running jihadist insurgencies. War ‘tour’, football and graffiti: How Russia is trying to influence Africa The Alliance of Sahel States – composed of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – said the attempted coup was "a betrayal by a group of soldiers involved in an attempt at destabilisation".

The authorities have not said how many soldiers were involved in the attempted coup, nor how many casualties there were. Niger's military ruler, Gen Tiani, who was sworn in as its president last year after he deposed its elected leader, has also not publicly addressed the incident. The nation's state broadcaster showed footage of several alleged mutineers being arrested by the Presidential Guard.

On Sunday, Niger Press Agency reported that commercial activity was returning to normal, with petrol stations, shops and other businesses reopening. Supporters of the government gathered at a public square in central Niamey in support of the security forces and Tiani's government.