Mulumbu: Newly-promoted Premier League club Norwich City have signed DR Congo international midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu on a free transfer. The 28-year-old will join the Canaries on July 1 when his contract with fellow top-flight side West Bromwich Albion, for whom he has played 151 Premier League games, expires. Mulumbu is the second player to switch from West Bromwich to Norwich in the transfer window following his former team-mate Graham Dorrans in May.

Anigo: Frenchman Jose Anigo has been appointed coach of Tunisia’s Esperance on a two-year contract, the club said. The 54-year-old is an ex-Marseille player, coach and sporting director. Former continental champions Esperance have won a record 26 Tunisian league titles, the last in 2014, but finished third last season and subsequently fired Portuguese coach Jose Morais, a former assistant to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Doriva goes: Doriva has resigned as coach of Vasco da Gama after a poor start to the league season in which they failed to win any of their first eight games, the club said. The former Middlesbrough and Brazil midfielder took Vasco to the Rio de Janeiro state championship earlier this year but they have disappointed since and currently sit second bottom in Serie A.

Krkic: Stoke striker Bojan Krkic says he hopes to be fit for the start of the new domestic season. The 24-year-old Spaniard suffered a cruciate ligament injury in an FA Cup tie at Rochdale at the end of January. The former Barcelona player has undergone an extensive rehabilitation programme and believes he is on course to be ready for Stoke’s opening Premier League game against Liverpool on the weekend of August 8-9. “I feel better, it’s been four-and-a-half months from that knee injury,” Bojan said.

Sylla: Aston Villa midfielder Yacouba Sylla has joined French side Rennes on a four-year contract. Ligue 1 side Rennes confirmed the transfer on their official club website to end Sylla’s two-and-a-half year stay at Villa Park. The 24-year-old Malian joined Villa from Clermont Foot for £2 million in January 2013 but made only 12 Premier League starts and spent last season on loan at Turkish Super Lig club Kayseri Erciyesspor.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.