Manchester City have completed their squad overhaul – including a fully revamped midfield – to the tune of £458m, a new Premier League record for a summer window.

But that eyewatering sum does not tell the full story.

New Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca received the full backing of director of football Hugo Viana in his first transfer window in charge after replacing Pep Guardiola. Indeed, City’s record transfer fee was twice broken this summer.

A joint-British record £125m was spent on Maresca’s former Chelsea skipper Enzo Fernandez after £116m was committed on Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi, 18, was also brought in for £86m. The trio accounted for the bulk of City’s summer incomings.

The departures of captain Bernardo Silva, 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez means the City midfield has been completely transformed.

Senior club sources are said to be delighted by the business done not only during the past couple of months but in January too, when plans were brought forward to sign long-term targets Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.

And if the clock is rewound further back, Manchester City‘s rebuild of the team that won the 2023 Champions League really began in January 2025 after a difficult start to that season.

Just four players remain from the starting eleven and substitutes from the night they beat Inter Milan in Istanbul to win the continent’s biggest club prize.

Maresca now has the luxury of calling upon two established players in almost every position. City feel the squad is stronger at this point than at the beginning of last season which they believe has been achieved by remaining calm and trusting the transfer strategy.

However some big questions remain.

How will their new midfield signings all fit together?

And, despite the vast amount of money spent, have they actually left themselves without a back-up to Erling Haaland?

Sept. 2 (UPI) — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump‘s latest attempt at limiting birthright citizenship, saying Trump’s order “is almost certainly unconstitutional.”

Trump signed two executive orders related to the topic on Aug. 6, about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his earlier order banning birthright citizenship.

One of the August orders expanded the list of non-citizens whose children would not be granted citizenship automatically. These categories include children of whom either parent is “an alien enemy” or “a foreign government employee.”

The other would ban so-called birth tourism, which is when a traveler enters another country specifically to give birth there for citizenship reasons – a practice that is already illegal.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said in Wednesday’s ruling that the August executive orders are likely unconstitutional “for the simple reason that the Supreme Court … already decided that the children in the class are citizens at birth” in its June ruling.

“This Court must, once again, preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the President’s most recent attempt to strip the right to citizenship from them,” Boardman wrote.

Birthright citizenship stems from the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

In its June decision, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 against Trump’s original executive order, which sought to end birthright citizenship for any children born to parents who are not U.S. citizens.

Chief Justice John Roberts said there was “scant evidence” for Trump’s interpretation of the principles of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 after the U.S. Civil War to protect the rights ofthe formerly enslaved.

“Citizenship then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Roberts wrote. “… We keep that promise today.”

Trump said the Supreme Court ruling “was too bad for our Country” and called on Congress to pass legislation against birthright citizenship.

The ruling follows a 6-3 decision from the Supreme Court that found Trump’s effort to limit birthright citizenship was illegal.

A United States federal judge in Maryland has blocked President Donald Trump’s latest effort to roll back birthright citizenship, after the Supreme Court ruled that his last attempt violated the Constitution.

District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday against Trump’s new executive order, which was issued on August 6.

The new order took aim at what Trump has called “birth tourism”, the practice of intentionally giving birth on foreign soil.

It sought to deny citizenship to children of foreign nationals in certain groups, including those accused of engaging in a commercial transaction to obtain citizenship or classified as an “alien enemy”.

Boardman, however, said the order was unconstitutional for the same reason Trump’s previous effort failed. She cited the Supreme Court’s June decision in the case Barbara v Trump.

The order “is almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class for the simple reason that the Supreme Court in Barbara already decided that the children in the class are citizens at birth”, she wrote.

“This Court must, once again, preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the President’s most recent attempt to strip the right to citizenship from them.”

In the Barbara case, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that birthright citizenship was protected under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Birthright citizenship confers automatic citizenship on anyone born in the US, outside of a handful of narrow exceptions, such as the children of diplomats or invading armies.

The constitutional basis for birthright citizenship has been upheld in several Supreme Court cases over the years, most notably in US v Wong Kim Ark, the case of an American man born to Chinese parents.

But Trump campaigned for a second term as president on the pledge to crack down on immigration into the country.

One of his promises was to reform the concept of birthright citizenship. Trump and his allies have argued that children of temporary or undocumented immigrants do not qualify for the right, as they are not under the “jurisdiction” of the US.

Since the Supreme Court defeat in June, Trump and his allies have continued to probe for ways to challenge the constitutional protections for birthright citizenship.

Wednesday’s legal challenge was brought by immigrant rights advocates and families, including groups like the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.

They had previously won an injunction from Boardman last year, blocking the Trump administration from enforcing his initial executive order about birthright citizenship.

Last week, Boardman instructed the plaintiffs to revise their complaint to specifically address the second executive order, rather than relying on the same material used for the first.

But she signalled scepticism at the time about the constitutionality of Trump’s latest attempt, calling it “unprecedented”.

“The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth’,” she wrote in Wednesday’s decision.

 GRAMMY-WINNING 90s singer Cassandra Wilson has died aged 70.

The jazz singer died surrounded by family and friends on Wednesday.

The award-winning jazz vocalist from Jackson, Mississippi, worked with the Roots and co-founded the M-Base Collective.

Her manager of 20 years Robert Torre told WBGO: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist.

“Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager.”

Cassandra blended blues, country and folk music into her work.

PRIME LEGACY

Optimus Prime & Eeyore voice actor Peter Cullen’s cause of death revealed

HEALTH SCARE

Lionel Richie, 77, in intensive care after falling ill on stage during concert

The singer was nominated for four Grammys, and won two in the Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Cassandra won for her 1997 album New Moon Daughter and for her 2007 album Loverly.

She was described by critic Gary Giddins as “a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack who has expanded the playing field”.

Cassandra was named as a Jazz Master in 2022 by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Tributes flooded in for the star, with fellow NEA Jazz Master Dorthaan Kirk saying she is “devastated” by the loss.

She said they were like family and Cassandra called her “Mother Kirk”.

Dorthaan said: “I’m just devastated. Cassandra completely related to me because she looked up to me as an elder and somebody that was in the business.”

Cassandra took up piano at six, guitar at 12 and launched her career as a vocalist in the 70s, moving to the Big Apple the next decade where she became one of the founding members of the M-Base Collective.

She later signed with Blue Note Records in 1992 and released her seminal album titled Blue Light ‘Till Dawn.

The singer collaborated on albums with Coleman, Greg Osby, and Wynton Marsalis.

Cassandra sang as the character Leona in Marsalis’ recording of his Blood on the Fields oratorio, which became the first jazz composition to win a Pulitzer Prize.

She was a guest vocalist on the Roots’ Silent Treatment and One Shine.

And star collaborators on her own work included Elvis Costello, John Legend, Jon Batiste and Ravi Coltrane.

She told The New York Times in 1994: “I continue to choose the path I take musically,

“And it’s not motivated by becoming famous or having a lot money, or any other pop motivation.”

Gov. George Deukmejian named on Monday Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kenneth R. Yegan to join the state 2nd District Court of Appeal, fulfilling the judge’s longtime dream of becoming an appeals court justice.

If a judicial review panel confirms Yegan’s nomination to the court’s 6th Division on Dec. 27, he will replace Justice Richard W. Abbe, who retired Nov. 28 after eight years on the three-member court.

“If I get confirmed on the 27th, I’ll take the oath right on the spot and hope to report to work the next day,” said Yegan, 43, of Westlake.

The review panel, composed of Supreme Court Justice Malcolm Lucas, Atty. Gen. John K. Van De Kamp and presiding 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice Lester Roth, is scheduled to meet next week in Los Angeles to discuss Yegan’s qualifications.

If confirmed, he will consider appeals cases from Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties with Justices Steven J. Stone and Arthur Gilbert, who have served on the 6th Division bench since it was established in 1982.

“Without even thinking about it, I’m really ecstatic about the appointment,” said Gilbert, who has reviewed Yegan’s Superior Court opinions on appeal and worked with him when Yegan served as a temporary appeals justice in the summer of 1986.

“I think he’s as good as you can get. He’s just first-rate,” Gilbert said. “He supports his point of view with well-reasoned statements of decision on the Superior Court, and he did the same thing when he was here.”

Stone said Yegan has a reputation for being able to handle all levels of appeals work, from doing legal research to writing the final draft of opinions.

“I have a lot of respect for Ken and I think that he will work very well with us,” Stone said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Yegan said that Deukmejian called him Friday to offer him the seat. He said the governor swore him to secrecy until Monday, but gave him permission to tell his family.

“My wife was home with my oldest daughter and she was screaming, and my daughter was screaming,” Yegan said. “After they calmed down a little bit she asked me if I could pick up my youngest daughter from ballet and asked if I could go to the store and pick up some things. . . .and that’s when I knew things hadn’t changed.”

The focus of Judge Yegan’s work has not changed much from his first days in law. He said he has been fascinated by appeals work ever since law school.

“I took all the courses I could in law school in appellate practice,” Yegan said. “It’s intellectually challenging and it’s very stimulating to figure out where the facts meet the law and. . . .which is the better-reasoned opinion.”

Yegan graduated in 1972 from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and began work as a deputy in the Ventura County public defender’s office, handling trials and appellate cases.

Beginning in 1975 he worked as a senior attorney in the appeals court’s 5th Division in Los Angeles, researching cases and helping justices write opinions. In January, 1983, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. appointed him to the Ventura County Municipal Court.

Deukmejian elevated him to the Superior Court in July 1986, where he tried criminal, civil and cases appealed from Municipal Court.

In recent months, Yegan said, letters urging his nomination have flowed into the governor’s office from County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, Sheriff John V. Gillespie, three Supreme Court justices and a variety of appeals court justices, trial court judges and lawyers.

Abbe said of Yegan’s appointment: “His work when he was. . . .here was excellent. He was knowledgeable, he was able to evaluate cases quickly and accurately and make sensible decisions.”

British number one Katie Boulter endured a “bad day at the office” as she won just one game in a 58-minute demolition by Karolina Muchova in the US Open second round.

The match, originally scheduled to be played on one of the outer courts, was moved to the 14,000-capacity Louis Armstrong Stadium after heavy rain in New York.

But fans who had counted themselves lucky to have gained a third match on their day session ticket may have been left feeling short-changed, as Boulter fell to a swift 6-1 6-0 defeat by the Czech seventh seed.

“Ultimately, it was a bad day at the office – times two,” said Boulter.

“I struggled with the conditions. I struggled with the roof, the noise, I let things distract me.

“I let it get to me. I’m not usually aware of everything going on. It made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I have to deal with it better.”

Fellow Briton Jacob Fearnley also failed to reach the third round as he suffered a 6-3 6-3 3-6 6-3 loss to Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

But Francesca Jones had better fortune as she returned to win her first-round match against Poland’s Magda Linette after it was interrupted by rain on Tuesday.

Boulter’s serve let her down as she hit eight double faults and no aces, while she won just 33% of points behind her first serve.

Unable to fend off any of the seven break points she faced, the 30-year-old was not helped by an unforced error count of 22 compared to just four winners.

In comparison, Wimbledon runner-up Muchova landed 14 winners and just nine unforced errors as she impressed with smart drop shots and piercing groundstrokes.

“I would be really humbled [if I was Boulter], I would sit down with my team and say ‘OK, we need to change something big time’,” former world number five Daniela Hantuchova told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“First of all, it was very obvious today that it was the serve. I feel like it needs to be cleared up because she was losing the rhythm and not using her legs. That’s the number one thing.

“If I am Boulter, I would be on the practice court tomorrow. If she still wants to invest everything into her tennis then she needs to be on the court.”

Boulter has had plenty to celebrate in her personal life this summer after marrying Australia’s Alex de Minaur, the world number seven, in July.

However, it has been a disappointing tennis season for the world number 62, with just two wins across the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Since suffering a first-round exit at Wimbledon, Boulter has won just two of the six matches she has played.