West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate is launching an academy in Senegal.

Kouyate is following the lead of Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.

Vieira co-founded Diambars – a football academy in Saly, Senegal – in 2000 and Kouyate revealed he too has gone about doing the same in his homeland.

"There is a team called Africa Foot – a new academy – which is in Senegal where I grew up," he told the Daily Mail. "There is a new team there, a training ground and everything which I arranged with my agent.

"There are players there who want to succeed in Europe and my old coach works there."