Briefs

Diakite: QPR have completed the permanent signing of Mali midfielder Samba Diakite from French side Nancy. Diakite has agreed a four-year deal with the west London club having initially joined on loan last season.

Birmingham: Former Huddersfield Town boss Lee Clark has been confirmed as the new manager of Birmingham City. The 39-year-old has been appointed at the npower Championship club after impressing in two rounds of interviews as acting chairman Peter Pannu sought a successor to Chris Hughton, who departed St Andrew’s for Norwich almost three weeks ago.

Rangers: Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, Kyle Lafferty and Jamie Ness joined the Ibrox exodus after declining to transfer their contracts to Charles Green’s newco Rangers. They joined Steven Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Sone Aluko and Rhys McCabe, who registered their objections before the start of this week. The news comes after six of the 12 SPL clubs stated they would oppose Green’s application to take Rangers’ place in the top flight.

Lopez: Real Mallorca have agreed a deal to sign former Atletico Madrid captain Antonio Lopez on an initial two-year contract. The 30-year-old left-back came up through the youth ranks at Atletico and, either side of two-year loan spell at Osasuna, spent a decade with the Rojiblancos first team before leaving at the end of last season.

Aduriz: Athletic Bilbao have reached an agreement to sign their former striker Aritz Aduriz from Valencia. The 31-year-old Aduriz came up through the youth ranks at Athletic and spent two spells in the first team either side of time at Burgos and Real Valladolid. In 2008 Aduriz left to join Real Mallorca before moving to Valencia with whom he earned his first Spain cap.

Dominguez: Borussia Moenchengladbach have signed Spanish defender Alvaro Dominguez from Atletico Madrid to replace Bayern Munich-bound Dante. The 23-year-old Dominguez will pen a five-year contract after completing a medical this week.