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Premier League leads spending as transfer window closes. Ivan Toney to Saudi Arabia

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English Premier League clubs again flexed their financial muscles by spending about $2.6 billion in the summer transfer window that closed Friday for Europe’s five big domestic leagues.

And once again Chelsea was first in line with an outlay of $290 million as owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital continue to look for a winning combination at Stamford Bridge.

The Saudi Pro League’s window remains open for a few more days — enough time for more deals like the one announced early Saturday that will see striker Ivan Toney join Al-Ahli. The Saudi club agreed to pay Brentford a transfer fee reported to be $52 million.

Also early Saturday, Arsenal announced it has agreed to take Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling on loan for the rest of the season.

Other big names in European soccer that were the subject of late talks included Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) and Victor Osimhen (Napoli). No deals had been announced for them early Saturday after the deadline.

United bolsters midfield, Palace gets Nketiah

United signed Uruguay defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain for an initial 50 million euros ($55.7 million). It takes the club’s summer spending on new players to around $240 million. United had earlier signed striker Joshua Zirkzee, center backs Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt, and full back Noussair Mazraoui. The 23-year-old Ugarte looks set to be the long-term replacement for Casemiro.

Crystal Palace had a busy Friday spending that Michael Olise money. The club added striker Eddie Nketiah from Arsenal for a fee reported to be $39 million. Nketiah is in search of playing time and grew up in south London. Arsenal might be clearing some space for a late signing. Earlier, Palace signed center back Maxence Lacroix from Wolfsburg for a reported fee of 21 million euros ($23 million). The move reunites the 24-year-old French player with Palace manager Oliver Glasner, who coached the German club for two seasons.

Napoli lands McTominay, Gilmour

Italy is back over the $1 billion mark again in overall spending — the second highest in Europe.

A pair of Scotland midfielders — Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour — are headed to Napoli. McTominay joined on a fee of $33 million from Man United, where the midfielder had been since he was five. United manager Erik ten Hag lamented the pressure that clubs are under to sell “homegrown” players — because of the good profit margin — amid the league’s financial regulations. Gilmour arrives from Brighton for a fee of about $20 million.

Romelu Lukaku joined Napoli on Thursday, reuniting with manager Antonio Conte, who had coached Belgium’s all-time record scorer at Inter Milan.

Saudi deadline Monday

There could still be some surprises in store beyond Europe. That’s because the Saudi Pro League has until Monday to lure more players, after Toney’s agreement.

Entering this week, the Saudis had spent just $240 million in this transfer window — a huge decrease from the roughly $1 billion spent in the same period a year ago.

One reason might be the lack of squad spots, though the league has put in place a plan to add more foreign players. Changes that took effect this season increased the limit on the number of foreign players per team from eight to 10. There’s no age limit for eight foreigners but in a bid to get younger stars — not just the 30-something crowd — two spots are restricted to “non-Saudi players born in 2003 or after.”

On Tuesday, Saudi champion Al Hilal paid $28 million to Manchester City for full back João Cancelo.

Mohamed Salah was No. 1 on Al-Ittihad’s wish list last year, when Liverpool reportedly rejected a bid worth $188 million. The 32-year-old Salah is in the final year of his contract on Merseyside.

Bayern done buying

Bayern Munich signaled early Friday that it was done spending. The Bavarian powerhouse spent about 100 million euros ($110 million) combined for Portugal midfielder João Palhinha and forward Michael Olise as it aims to recapture the German title it lost to Bayer Leverkusen last season.

Leverkusen kept most of its double-winning team together, while last season’s surprise second-place team Stuttgart was ransacked by rivals.

The highest-profile signing by a German club on Friday was Netherlands defender Lutsharel Geertruida moving to Leipzig from Dutch club Feyenoord. Geertruida was a key player for Feyenoord last season under coach Arne Slot, who’s now at Liverpool.

The most talked-about transfer on deadline day in Germany was one that didn’t happen. Leverkusen and Germany defender Jonathan Tah was a target for Bayern, and was linked with Barcelona. The defender confirmed on Friday he was staying put.

Reminder: Mbappé was free

The summer’s biggest move came with no transfer cost at all when Kylian Mbappé joined Real Madrid after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain. La Liga was on course to be the lowest spender among the big five — it entered the final week at just under $600 million. Atlético Madrid was the league’s biggest spender — by a wide margin — in the summer window by dropping more than $200 million highlighted by forward Julian Alvarez coming from Manchester City.

Zaha to Lyon

Veteran forward Wilfried Zaha joined French club Lyon from Galatasaray for a modest fee of $3 million. The 31-year-old Zaha spent most of his career at Crystal Palace before playing last season in Turkey, where he helped Galatasaray win the domestic league title.

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AP sports writer James Ellingworth in Germany contributed.

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Montreal skateboarders rally to protect skatepark

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Montreal skateboarders rally to protect skatepark

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Ilia Malinin lands 4 quads – and a backflip – to win his third straight Skate America title

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World champion Ilia Malinin won Skate America on Sunday for the third consecutive year, altering his free skate on the fly after an early mistake and punctuating the program with a backflip that had been banned in competition until this season.

The two-time and reigning U.S. champion scored 290.12 points to finish ahead of Kevin Aymoz of France, whose career-best free skate left him with 282.88 points and earned a standing ovation inside Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas.

Kao Miura of Japan, who was second after his short program, finished third with 278.67 points.

“It was a pretty challenging moment for me, just stepping on the ice. I felt way more nervous than usual,” said Malinin, the early favorite for gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. “That may have played a part in the whole program.”

Vancouver’s Wesley Chiu placed ninth in the free skate with a score of 140.08 points, he finished ninth overall with a total of 206.94 points.

The ice dance competition was to be decided later Sunday in the final event of the season-opening Grand Prix. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain had the lead over American world champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates after the rhythm dance.

Malinin and Miura were separated by a mere 0.15 points after their short programs, but it was Aymoz who challenged Malinin for the top of the podium. The 27-year-old from France, who struggled mightily at the end of last season, landed a pair of quads in an error-free program to score 190.84 points — the best of all the free skates — and vault into first place.

Nika Egadze of Georgia was next on the ice but fell on his opening quad lutz and stepped out on his quad salchow, and those two mistakes kept him from medal contention. He wound up fourth with 261.71 points.

Miura, the 19-year-old former world junior champion, landed three quads during a program set to “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” the 1964 musical romantic drama film. But Miura lost points for an under-rotated triple axel and on a step sequence that led into a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination midway through his free skate.

Malinin was last to take the ice, performing a program set to “I’m Not a Vampire” by the rock band Falling In Reverse.

He opened with a perfect quad flip and then hit a triple axel, even though Malinin remains the only skater to have landed the quad version of the jump in competition. Then came the mistake, when he doubled a planned quad loop, leaving Malinin to make changes on the fly over the second half of the program in an attempt to make up the lost points.

After putting his hand down on his triple lutz, Malinin landed a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination before a quad salchow-triple axel in sequence — a pair of huge jumping passes that sent his technical score soaring.

Malinin capped the recovery of his program with a backflip during his choreographed sequence, a move that had been banned until this season because of its inherent danger. It was expected all along but nonetheless sent a roar through the crowd, just as Malinin’s program came to an end and a steady stream of stuffed animals were thrown onto the ice.

“It was really hard for me in the middle of the program to think what I have to do — what I need to do,” Malinin said when asked about the early mistake. “I just went full autopilot through there and I’m glad I made it out.”

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Leclerc wins US Grand Prix and late penalty gives Verstappen 3rd place over Norris in title chase

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Charles Leclerc earned Ferrari its first United States Grand Prix victory since 2018 with a clever start and a commanding drive Sunday, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen strengthened his lead in the F1 season championship by finishing third ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Verstappen earned the podium only after Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track to pass Verstappen in the final laps.

Verstappen immediately complained about the move, while Norris insisted Verstappen also left the track. Norris’ pass came after the two drivers had battled for the final podium spot and critical championship points over several laps and Verstappen had stubbornly refused to give ground.

The penalty and fourth place finish cost Norris valuable points in the title chase. Verstappen stretched his championship lead over Norris from 54 points to 57 with five grand prix and two sprint races left.

Leclerc earned his third win of the season and Ferrari pulled a 1-2 finish with his teammate Carlos Sainz in second. Kimi Raikkonen had been the last Ferrari winner at the Circuit of the Americas in 2018.

But the bigger battle was raging behind them as Verstappen and Norris fought over every inch of the final dozen laps.

Verstappen has not won a grand prix since June and Norris has steadily chipped away at his lead as the Red Bull car has faded. Yet Verstappen still stretched his lead by five points over the weekend by also winning Saturday’s sprint race.

Norris will leave Austin knowing he squandered a big chance to gain ground. He had even earned pole position for Sunday’s race.

Verstappen started right beside him, and it was their battle into the first turn that saw both cars run wide, leaving room for Leclerc to pounce on the opening.

The Ferrari driver jumped from fourth and straight into the lead.

Norris complained Verstappen forced him off the track at the start to begin a battle that would be fought over the entire race.

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