Diomansy Kamara Signs for Fulham for £6m

West Brom have sold Diomansy Kamara to Fulham for £6m and accepted Wigan's £5.3m bid for Jason Koumas.

Senegal striker Kamara has signed a five-year deal with Fulham, becoming the Cottagers third signing of the summer after Northern Ireland duo Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes. Koumas is yet to finalise terms with Wigan.

Albion chairman Jeremy Peace said: "We have said all along we will only consider selling players like Diomansy and Jason if we receive head-turning offers and that the deals are in the club's best interests. We feel these offers mirror those criteria."

Kamara, 26, scored 23 goals for West Brom last season but requested a transfer after the Baggies lost the Championship play-off final to Derby in May. "We were interested in him right from the end of last season when West Brom didn't get up," manager Lawrie Sanchez said. "He will add pace to our attack and we are pleased to have got him nailed down. The lad always wanted to come so it was just a case of the clubs finalising the details, but it was pretty much agreed from the first moment."

Sanchez said he has no concerns about a player who has failed to make an impact in the Premiership before. "Any player you take up from the Championship is a gamble. He was at Portsmouth and it didn't work out for him but he has had a couple of great seasons with West Brom and now is a chance to step back up to the Premiership.

"Any player that comes to English football finds it a shock to the system, but having had two years of it, it is now a chance to step up and prove himself at this level. His pace will get him in good situations and there's no doubt about the quality of his finishing."

Sanchez also told fans to expect more new faces at the club before next month's big kick-off. "We needed some pace added to the team. In the Premiership you do need pace in certain areas and I didn't feel we had enough. Now we have a bit more and I hope we will find more. We are still looking at three or four more players and we are hopeful we will get them before the window closes."

Preston striker David Nugent was allowed to miss training today to hold further talks with Portsmouth.

Nugent, 22, has been mulling over his future for several weeks after Sunderland and Pompey both had bids accepted last month. Black Cats boss Roy Keane pulled out of the move after becoming frustrated at the amount of time Nugent was taking to make a decision.

Preston manager Paul Simpson demanded last week that Nugent return to training today if his future was not resolved. But instead Nugent has travelled to the south coast to meet with Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp.

"We had a phone call this morning from his agent to say they were going down to Portsmouth for further talks," Simpson said. "We'll see what happens, but we're at a stage now where Portsmouth and David Nugent want to know whether it's Preston North End or somewhere else for next season."

Simpson admitted that the player's departure would leave Preston financially better off but doubted whether he would get a reported £6m transfer fee to spend on squad reinforcements. "We have him under contract for the next year, so we can afford to keep him in the budget. I'm not sure I'll have money to spend but the club would definitely be better off financially.

"It's one of those things that's been going on for a while. But it's a massive decision for a young footballer - where he's going to be playing his football. He's definitely got the attitude to make it."

Colchester have completed a double transfer swoop with the signings of experienced Crystal Palace full-back Danny Granville and Arsenal youngster Matthew Connolly. Granville, 32, has joined on a free transfer and is a direct replacement for left-back Chris Barker, who was on loan at Layer Road last season but has since joined QPR.

Centre-half Connolly, 19, spent three months at Bournemouth last term and arrives on a season-long loan from the Emirates Stadium. The duo take manager Geraint Williams' summer signings to six, joining Teddy Sheringham, Mark Yeates, Clive Platt and Luke Guttridge at the Essex club.