Manchester City have completed the signing of Valencia centre-back Nicolas Otamendi. The Argentina international, 27, who will wear the number 30 shirt, is Manchester City’s third signing of the summer after the arrivals of Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph. “I am here to give my best, to fight game by game and push City to the highest peaks for as long as possible, and I wish we will be able to win several cups and titles,” Otamendi said. “That’s the most important. To be here inside a club that looks so wonderful from the outside is a dream.” Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was unusually glowing in his greeting to his new capture. “Nicolas Otamendi was arguably the best defender in La Liga last season and so naturally I’m delighted to have added a player of his quality,” the Chilean said. “He is an established international for one of the best nations in world football and I have no doubt that he has the right mentality to fit into the squad. Nicolas has all of the qualities to be a success in the Premier League – he’s strong, he’s excellent in the tackle and he’s very good technically.”

Chelsea announce the signing of Barcelona forward Pedro. The 28-year-old is a five-time La Liga winner and three-time Champions League winner. Speaking to the Chelsea website, the Spanish World Cup winner says: “I am very happy to be here. I am very excited to start my adventure at Chelsea and I am here to keep winning titles. “Thanks to the club and the supporters for giving me the opportunity to put the blue shirt on.” Chelsea’s statement on signing Barcelona forward Pedro says: “Chelsea is delighted to announce the signing of Pedro from Barcelona. “The Spaniard arrives as a highly coveted winger who can also play as a central striker. He is proven at the very highest level and already possesses an impressive medal haul. “The 28-year-old has accumulated three Champions Leagues and five La Liga titles, as well as being a world and European champion on the international stage.”

West Ham United have reached agreement with Barcelona for the permanent signature of midfielder Alex Song. Co-owner David Sullivan tells the KUMB (Knees Up Mother Brown) Podcast: “We have a deal in place with Alex Song subject to a medical. If the medical is ok, we’ll take him. He’s injured at the moment, which is something you’ve got to weight up. But we’ve got until 1 September to make a decision.”

Oscar Pistorius will not be released from prison on Friday as planned, after South Africa’s justice ministry announced its decision to review the decision. In a statement, the ministry said the decision to release Pistorius 10 months into his five-year sentence was made “prematurely” and with “no legal basis”. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide in October last year after shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. She would have celebrated her 32nd birthday on Wednesday. The decorated Paralympic athlete now looks set to stay in prison at least until the case has been looked over by South Africa’s correctional supervision and parole review board.

Chelsea have agreed a deal with Barcelona to sign winger Pedro for a fee of £21m. The 28-year-old, who was a target for Manchester United, is flying to London to finalise terms on the transfer. The Spain international is a product of the La Liga club’s academy and has scored 99 goals in 326 appearances since his debut in 2008. He will be Chelsea’s second signing in less than a week after the arrival of Ghana defender Baba Rahman.

Real Madrid have signed midfielder Mateo Kovacic from Inter Milan for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old Croatia international has signed a six-year contract at the Bernabeu, where he will be presented to the Real fans on Wednesday. Kovacic scored eight goals and provided 11 assists in 97 games for Inter, whom he joined from Dinamo Zagreb in 2013. Real, who finished second behind Barcelona in La Liga last season, begin the new campaign on Sunday. Kovacic, who has played 21 times for his country, will join countryman Luka Modric at the club.

Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique has been banned for four matches after he was sent off for insulting a linesman in Monday’s Spanish Super Cup second leg against Athletic Bilbao. Barca can appeal and may get the sanction reduced, but if that fails the Spain international will miss the the club’s opening four La Liga matches, including Sunday’s trip to play Bilbao and the game at Atletico Madrid on 12 September. Pique apologised for his dismissal via his Twitter account on Tuesday, but denied using insulting language.

Leicester have confirmed they have signed Napoli midfielder Gokhan Inler. The 31-year-old, who will cost the Foxes a reported £3m, signed for Napoli from Udinese in 2011. Inler has more than 80 caps for Switzerland and has played for his country at two World Cups and Euro 2008. Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri has been chasing a new midfielder after failing to persuade Esteban Cambiasso to stay at the club, and has already signed N’Golo Kante from Caen to beef up his options.

Former Olympic 1500m champion Lord Coe is the new president of the IAAF, the body that governs world athletics. The 58-year-old Briton beat rival Sergey Bubka, a former Olympic pole vault champion, by 115 votes to 92. One of Coe’s first tasks will be to deal with the fall-out from a series of doping allegations to hit athletics. Double Olympic champion Mo Farah and Olympic 1500m silver medallist Steve Cram have backed their countryman to make a positive impact. Following his election, Coe tweeted that, after the birth of his children, this was the most “momentous moment” of his life. The former chairman of London 2012, Coe replaces 82-year-old Senegalese Lamine Diack, who has been in charge for 16 years.

Diego Maradona was in Tunisia at the weekend, where he “had a very emotional reunion” with Ali Bennaceur – the referee who took charge of Argentina’s infamous World Cup quarter-final meeting with England at Mexico 1986. “I had bought him an Argentina shirt, with my dedication ‘for Ali, my friend eternal’,” said Diego. The Tunisian official returned the favour by gifting Maradona a picture from that game in which Maradona punched the ball past England’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton and give Argentina the lead.

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Athletic Bilbao won a first trophy in 31 years as a 1-1 draw with Barcelona at the Nou Camp secured the Spanish Super Cup with a 5-1 aggregate victory. Bilbao won the first leg 4-0 but Barcelona threatened a comeback with Lionel Messi’s close-range finish. Barca defender Gerard Pique was sent-off after the break and Aritz Aduriz struck late on to seal it for Bilbao. The visitors had Kike Sola sent-off late on, but the celebrations for Bilbao had already begun. It was ultimately a disappointing display for Barcelona who, despite plenty of possession, failed to threaten often enough.

Watford have signed former Italy midfielder Alessandro Diamanti on a season-long loan from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande. The 32-year-old, who played in the Premier League for West Ham in 2009-10, spent the second half of last season on loan at Serie A side Fiorentina. Diamanti has won 17 international caps and was part of the Italy squad that finished as runners-up at Euro 2012. He becomes Watford’s 12th signing of the summer.

London 2012 Olympic 1500m champion Asli Cakir Alptekin has been stripped of her gold medal for doping. The Turkish athlete has also been banned for eight years, the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed. An appeal by world governing body the IAAF was upheld after the 29-year-old was cleared in Turkey. Straight after the race, Britain’s Lisa Dobriskey, who finished ninth, told BBC Radio 5 live: “I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.” Alptekin served a two-year ban after a positive test as a junior in 2004. Her competitive results obtained since July 2010 have been disqualified after abnormal values were found in blood samples. The case comes amid a series of allegations of doping in athletics made by the Sunday Times and a German broadcaster. Last week the IAAF said it was suspending 28 athletes as a result of suspicious findings in doping tests.

The Head Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, today released a list of eighteen (18) foreign based professional who would join the home based counterparts for the camping ahead of the game against Tanzania. The match is a 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier and will be played in Dar es Salaam. The list has some surprise inclusions with English premier league players like Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Brown Ideye, Victor Anichebe, Odion Ighalo and Osaze Odewingie all missing.

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South African prosecutors have filed an appeal calling for Oscar Pistorius to be convicted of murder for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Olympic and Paralympic athlete was jailed last year after being convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter over the 2013 killing, and is due to be released from prison later this week. Pistorius’ defence team has until 17 September to file its response.

South Korea’s Chung Mong-Joon says he will run for FIFA president and has pledged to help the governing body clean itself up if he gets elected. “Today FIFA is undergoing a profound crisis. Under these circumstances, the FIFA president must be a crisis manager and a reformer,” said the 63-year-old, who is a former FIFA vice-president. “The problem at FIFA is that those mired in corruption, the only thing they are interested in is hiding the corruption. The real reason FIFA has become such a corrupt organisation is because the same person has been running it for 40 years. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The election to succeed Sepp Blatter takes place on 26 February.

Defender Sergio Ramos has agreed to sign a new five-year contract with Real Madrid. The Spain World Cup winner will join club president Florentino Perez in a signing ceremony on Monday. Manchester United had a £28.6m bid for the 29-year-old defender rejected in June as contract talks stalled. United are now unlikely to sign a new defender before the transfer window closes, while goalkeeper David De Gea, a Real target, is expected to stay. The Old Trafford club have insisted they will only sell the 24-year-old Spain international to the La Liga side for a world-record fee for a goalkeeper, or if Ramos is part of a deal. The current transfer window closes on 1 September. Ramos, who scored an injury-time equaliser as Real beat rivals Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final, will be contracted to stay at Real until 2020. He is the longest-serving player at the Bernabeu and was made captain by new manager Rafael Benitez in July after goalkeeper Iker Casillas left for Porto. Ramos was signed from Sevilla in 2005 and has 128 caps for Spain, winning two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup.

Saturday 15 August 2015:

Abia Warriors 1 – 0 El-Kanemi

Bayelsa 1 – 1 Enyimba

Sunday 16 August 2015:

Lobi Stars 2 – 1 Taraba

Kwara United 0 – 1 Wikki Tourists

Nasarawa 2 – 0  Heartland

Akwa United 3 – 1 Sharks

Enugu Rangers 2 – 3 Ifeanyi Uba

Kano Pillars 4 – 1 Shooting Stars

Sunshine Stars 4 – 0 Giwa

Warri Wolves 1 – 0 Dolphins

Sunday 16 August 2015:

Crystal Palace 1 – 2 Arsenal

Man City 3 – 0 Chelsea

Saturday 15 August 2015:

Southampton 0 – 3 Everton

Sunderland 1 – 3 Norwich

Swansea 2 – 0 Newcastle

Tottenham 2 – 2 Stoke

Watford 0 – 0 West Brom

West Ham 1 – 2 Leicester

Friday 14 August 2015:

Aston Villa 0 – 1 Man Utd

Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign defender Baba Rahman from Bundesliga side FC Augsburg. The Premier League champions confirmed the move for the Ghana international, 21, on their club website  with Augsburg saying the fee will remain undisclosed. Chelsea had been linked with the left-back after allowing Brazil international Filipe Luis to re-join Atletico Madrid earlier this summer. He said: “I am very happy to sign for one of the biggest clubs in the world.” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, whose side lost 3-0 at Manchester City on Sunday, said: “It is important because he is a left-back, so he can compete with [Cesar] Azpilicueta. “At the same time, Azpilicueta can compete with [Branislav] Ivanovic for the right-back position, so he replaces Filipe Luis in the balance of the squad.” Rahman spent 12 months with Augsburg after signing from SpVgg Greuther Fürth in August 2014, making 31 appearances for the Bavarian club last season as they qualified for the Europa League. He was also a member of Ghana’s Africa Cup of Nations squad which lost in the final to Ivory Coast in February.