Brighton agree £21.5m deal for winger Yohanna

Brighton have agreed to sign winger Zadok Yohanna from AIK Stockholm in a deal worth £21.5m.

The 18-year-old Nigerian is set to join the Seagulls on a five-year contract in a move which will be finalised when the summer transfer window opens on Monday, 15 June.

“I’m looking forward to working with Zadok,” said Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler. “Having seen his games and his attributes, he is a player that can impact games in the final third.

“He’s still young, and will need time to adapt to the club and Premier League, but he’s an exciting player to watch and he brings the kind of creativity we know our fans will enjoy.”

Yohanna joined AIK Stockholm from the Ikon Allah Football Academy in Nigeria and has five goals and four assists in 18 appearances for the Swedish club since his debut in August 2025.

Lightning halts pre-World Cup friendly in Texas

Saudi Arabia’s World Cup warm-up game against Puerto Rico in Texas was halted for nearly two hours because of extreme weather.

The match at the Q2 Stadium in Austin was stopped in the 21st minute as thunderstorms and lightning forced players off the pitch, with messages telling fans to seek shelter.

There were a number of lightning strikes before the match eventually resumed, with Saudi Arabia winning 3-0.

The 2026 World Cup, which is being held across Canada, Mexico and the United States, starts on 11 June.

It is taking place at the peak of the thunderstorm season in several host cities, and if a lightning strike is detected within eight miles of a stadium the game will be stopped.

A mandatory 30-minute countdown then begins and, each time there is a lightning strike inside the distance, the countdown clock resets to 30 minutes again.

While the Q2 stadium will not host any matches during the World Cup, two stadiums in Texas will be used during the tournament.

There will be seven matches at the Houston Stadium, while the Dallas Stadium will host nine matches, including England’s group game against Croatia, although both venues have retractable roofs which can reduce the impact of the weather.

Last year, the Club World Cup took place in the US and Chelsea’s last-16 tie against Benfica in Charlotte lasted for four hours and 39 minutes as it was one of a number of games halted because of seasonal summer thunderstorms.

Heat is also expected to be an issue at the World Cup, with researchers warning temperatures at 14 of the 16 stadiums being used could exceed dangerous levels.

Saudi Arabia play their final warm-up game against Senegal on Tuesday (Wednesday 00:00 BST) before they start their World Cup campaign against Uruguay at the Miami Stadium on 15 June (23:00 BST).

They have further Group H games against Spain in Atlanta on 21 June (17:00 BST) and Cape Verde in Houston on 26 June (27 June, 01:00 BST).

Mr Irreplaceable and Ballon d'Or contender - is this Kane's time?

Harry Kane will carry England’s hopes into the World Cup as their record goalscorer

Harry Kane’s final task of the finest season of a magnificent career is to attend to unfinished business as England’s World Cup captain.

Kane is England’s ‘Mr Irreplaceable’ - as proved when Thomas Tuchel’s side were ominously toothless when drawing with Uruguay then losing to Japan in March friendlies at Wembley.

The 32-year-old’s fitness will be Tuchel’s biggest concern as they prepare to start their World Cup campaign against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June, not simply because of his status as England’s all-time record scorer with 78 goals in 112 games, but also because they have no-one remotely in Kane’s class.

If Kane stays fit, and in the remarkable form that brought him 66 goals in 56 games for Bayern Munich this season, England’s hopes will soar.

If not, the reverse applies.

As former England striker Chris Sutton told BBC Sport: “Harry Kane is so important that if he announced his international retirement this afternoon, everyone would instantly view England’s World Cup chances in a different, more pessimistic light.”

Silverware has come late in Kane’s career after barren years at Tottenham Hotspur, when even his stunning goalscoring numbers could not bring glory.

He is now making up for lost time by winning a second successive Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, then scoring a hat-trick as they beat Stuttgart 3-0 in the German Cup final.

And Kane now has his sights set on delivering the biggest prize of all as he leads England on their latest quest to end the search for men’s success stretching back to the 1966 World Cup win.

England’s countdown to their opening World Cup game continues when they play New Zealand in a friendly at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday (21:00 BST).

Kane has suffered the disappointment of losing successive European Championship finals with England to Italy and Spain, as well as a World Cup semi-final defeat by Croatia in 2018 and a quarter-final loss to France in Qatar.

Now Kane’s stellar form and fitness suggest the time might be right for England and their talisman to overcome the barrier that has brought 60 years of pain.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who will be at their World Cup games in his role as a BBC Radio 5 Live match analyst, says: “Kane is one player England can’t do without. Irreplaceable.”

“I do like the fact Tuchel has brought Ivan Toney in. I cover the Saudi Pro League and his club, Al-Ahli, have just won the Asian Champions League for the second season running. He scored 32 goals and was only overtaken as leading scorer by Julian Quinones of Al Qadsiah on the final day.”

“I really like that pick, and both he and Ollie Watkins offer something different, but no-one can replace Kane for England.”

“If England do well, it means Harry Kane’s done well. This is the level of importance that he carries for England. He looks fit, healthy and ready to go. You can use all the phrases. Captain. Talisman. Leader. He’s all of those.”

Major tournaments have not always been kind to Kane, starting with Euro 2016 in France where he took more corners than he scored goals - seven against none - with the campaign ending in humiliation against Iceland in the last 16.

Two years later in Russia, as England captain, Kane won the Golden Boot at the World Cup, scoring six goals in six games as Gareth Southgate’s side reached the semi-finals.

He was England’s top scorer when they reached the final of the delayed Euro 2020 tournament with four goals in seven games, although the 2022 World Cup ended in disappointment as Kane missed a penalty in the 2-1 defeat by France in the quarter-final in Qatar.

Kane, by his own standards, had a disappointing Euro 2024, looking so out of sorts there was a clamour for him to be replaced by Aston Villa’s Watkins.

He was substituted in all of England’s knockout matches, including after only 61 minutes of the final loss to Spain in Berlin. Kane, however, still finished as the tournament’s joint top scorer with three goals from seven games.

“I think this could be a really big tournament for him,” said Robinson. “Tuchel takes big decisions, changes personnel and systems, but one thing he never changes is using Harry Kane as his single striker.”

“He is not just the player you want that last-second chance that might win a game to fall to. He is someone who has the class and quality to create that chance for someone else. He is pivotal to everything England do.”

Sutton is in agreement with Robinson.

“England are in a better place going into this World Cup with regards to Harry Kane than when they went into Euro 2024,” says Sutton.

“He didn’t seem quite right, maybe carrying an injury. Some people were talking about leaving him out, but if you take him out of the England team at this time, they are not the same force.”

Kane’s numbers are truly remarkable - not just this season with those 66 goals, but throughout his career for club and country.

After his real breakthrough season at Spurs in 2014-15, when he scored 31 goals in 51 games, he has never dipped below 24 goals in 11 campaigns. Kane’s career is a monument to consistency.

And at this World Cup, he will have the opportunity to become England’s highest scorer in the tournament. He currently has eight goals from 11 World Cup appearances, while Gary Lineker has 10 in 12.

Robinson said: “He has to be in the conversation as the world’s best simply because of his record and the numbers he posts season in, season out.”

“Remember when Pep Guardiola wanted him at Manchester City? Can you imagine the goals he would have got in that side with the opportunities they create?”

“You look at the numbers he and Erling Haaland post, and I think Kane is a better finisher than Haaland. I also think he’s a better all-round footballer than Haaland - and as he gets older his game is developing.”

Kane scored a remarkable 64 goals in 56 games as Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga and German Cup double.

Sutton added: “He has to be in that bracket when you talk about the world’s best. Haaland is pace and power, but Kane is different. He plays a more rounded game and possesses that aura all great players have. His team-mates feel it and, just as importantly, opponents can feel it. They fear Harry Kane.”

“There is sometimes a debate that he’s coming too deep, but that is football intelligence.”

“I get the arguments that you want your best striker in and around the box, but he’s intelligent enough and hungry enough to make it work. He always seems to find a way to be in the right place at the right time.”

“Harry Kane has instincts that are simply uncoachable. This is what makes him such a great player.”

Kane is at the forefront of contenders for the coveted Ballon d’Or awarded to Europe’s player of the year.

He has already claimed the Golden Shoe award for Europe’s leading goalscorer.

Bayern may have gone out against Paris St-Germain in a classic two-leg Champions League semi-final, but this cannot take the sheen off Kane’s stunning season.

Robinson has no doubts: “He wins it [the Ballon d’Or] this year. Who else wins it? Look at the achievements, and those numbers he’s had at club level.”

“He’s won trophies and there is the potential success he could have at the World Cup, which always plays a big factor in the Ballon d’Or winner.”

“There is absolutely no reason he should not win it - for me there is nobody else that wins it.”

England and Tuchel will hope Kane can set the seal on that accolade by leading them to long-awaited World Cup glory.

Patient, precise, clinical - are Scotland ready to make World Cup mark?

Fifteen minutes before Scotland began taking Bolivia to the cleaners at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, a weather warning was issued by New Jersey’s department of environmental protection. Code Orange, apparently.

Code Orange? Air quality alert. Pollution central.

The temperature had just hit 32.7 degrees, a potential problem for those with respiratory conditions, for elderly folk, and - we feared - for Scottish footballers and for those sweaty foot soldiers following them.

Bolivia, we knew, were no great shakes. Their weak attempt to qualify for the World Cup was enough evidence of that.

But suffocating conditions should be an advantage to a side that play home games in Tarija, 6,000 feet above sea level, and in the city in the sky that is El Alto at 13,600 feet. They beat Chile last June and Brazil last September in the latter.

The problem for Bolivia was not the heat that mother nature was inflicting on them - it was the heat they were getting from Scotland, who were patient, precise and clinical.

As an opponent, the South Americans were a perfect match, a useful punchbag in boxing parlance, but this was a pleasing victory and another four goals to whet the appetite before the truly big stuff starts to happen next Saturday night.

It might be argued that Scotland did not learn much about themselves against such moderate opponents, but Scotland don’t need to learn any more about themselves that they do not already know.

Save for the odd position, they are settled and vastly experienced.

This was not intended as a journey of discovery; it was a game to get their spirits up ahead of the main work ahead and that is exactly what it became. Unlike last weekend there were no injuries. Another plus.

Scotland picked their moments to strike and were pretty ruthless when they did.

Bolivia posed no threat. No World Cup to give them an edge, no players with much about them, no real answer to Scotland’s focus.

You can caveat the hell out of this if you wish - and restraint is no bad thing - but scoring the number of goals Steve Clarke’s side did, creating the number of the chances they did, and adapting to the temperatures with relative ease was impressive and heartening before Haiti (Sunday, 14 June - 02:00 BST, live on the BBC).

Haiti will be more physical, more athletic, more pacy and more threatening, but Scotland will have gained a lot of belief.

On a sweltering day, they could not play at a breakneck speed, could not bring that physical intensity to bear, and the quieter tempo almost suited them. It allowed them to think their way through rather than triumph through fitness and desire.

Scott McTominay was at the heart of an intelligent first-half performance before the 4-0 lead and the cavalry coming off the bench made it a bit ragged.

In building their lead, Scotland did not rush their passes, didn’t force the issue with their aggression. They were more technical, waiting for space to open up before striking.

Ryan Christie and Andy Robertson teed up Lawrence Shankland for a headed opener that set them on their way. Since September, he has not gone more than two consecutive games without scoring.

Making Shankland a starter against Haiti is the greatest no-brainer in the history of footballing no-brainers.

He is the striker Scotland has been crying out for for an awfully long time, an instinctive and clever finisher, a guy who can score different types of goals. He has scored 24 in 38 games this season and 10 in 12 since the turn of the year.

At precisely the right time, Shankland is playing the football of his life.

He had Che Adams as a partner - a two up front that the manager has been talking about for a little while now. It worked.

Clarke said later that he has “fantastic problems” in deciding who starts against Haiti. He probably already knows, but seeing so many of his players making a case is not a bad place to be.

McTominay got the second and Adams the third and fourth following fine work from Ben Gannon-Doak, who was another positive for Clarke.

His run downfield was a big part of Adams’ fourth. The Bournemouth youngster is still raw, still searching for consistency with his final ball, but he looked sharper here.

The head coach said Gannon-Doak got so excited before the Curacao game that it ran away from him. He looks a real contender again.

Adams is a curious sort, a player Clarke cherishes but who has never evoked major support among the Tartan Army. He is a willing and hard-working striker, a selfless sort, but not a natural goalscorer.

Here, though, his partnership with Shankland looked convincing. They looked to have a burgeoning understanding. The smart money has to be on both of them to start next Saturday.

Eight goals in two games is a handsome way to enter the tournament. This preparation was never about Curacao and Bolivia, but it was about getting enough positivity to propel Scotland into Haiti week. They have that.

Clarke was reluctant to big things up in the aftermath, but he was pleased, you could tell. Four years ago he led his team into the Euros on the back of demoralising form.

It feels different now. Dangerous talk, of course, but they’re in decent fettle one week out from the biggest game of their international lives.

Sullivan steps down at West Ham in wake of allegations

West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has stepped down from his position as joint chairman of the club with immediate effect following a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the Times newspaper into his behaviour.

The BBC said Panorama’s story is due to be broadcast and published on Monday.

The Hammers said they had “been made aware of the impending publication of serious historic allegations” concerning Sullivan.

In a statement of his own, the 77-year-old said a “small number of improper conduct claims” have been made against him, adding: “I categorically deny these claims.”

He said the “decades-old allegations concerning my personal life” are “factually incorrect and entirely false”.

Sullivan, who had held the role for 16 years, said he stepped down “to apply my full energy and attention on fighting these false allegations”.

Sullivan also said he plans to sue the BBC for libel “along with any other media outlet that repeats any libellous allegations”.

The Hammers were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2025-26 season after finishing 18th.

“At what is already a challenging and important time for the club, I refuse to allow personal matters concerning me to become an unnecessary distraction or a source of instability,” added Sullivan, who has also resigned as a director.

“Therefore, after very careful consideration and with a heavy heart, I have decided to resign.”

In a club statement, West Ham said Sullivan has denied any “illegal conduct” and is leaving “in order to avoid disruption to the club while he addresses the matter privately”.

Sullivan has been the club’s largest single shareholder since the death of his business partner David Gold in January 2023, which left him with a 38.8% stake.

Sullivan and Gold became joint chairmen of West Ham when they completed their takeover of the club in January 2010.

“It is understood none of the allegations relate to West Ham United or any of its operations,” said West Ham.

“Interim chief executive officer Karim Virani, reporting into the current board of directors, will continue to be responsible for leading the club’s day-to-day operations.”

“The club will provide an update on the future structure of the board of directors in due course, but will make no further comment at this time.”

Sullivan and Gold had previously been co-owners of Birmingham City from 1993 to 2009.

They oversaw West Ham’s move from Upton Park to London Stadium in 2016 and their Conference League win in 2023 - the Hammers’ first major trophy since the 1980 FA Cup.

The club’s best Premier League finish during their tenure was sixth in 2021, but the Hammers have finished in the bottom half in three of the past four seasons and their 14-year spell in the top flight came to an end last month.

West Ham fans have held protests on numerous occasions during the 2025-26 season, calling for Sullivan and Baroness Brady to step down.

Brady left her role as vice-chair on 15 April.