MADRID (AP) — Atletico Madrid reached a deal for the transfer of Mexico midfielder Obed Vargas from the Seattle Sounders on Monday.
Atletico said the 20-year-old Vargas, who was born in Alaska and was a naturalized Mexican, signed a contract with the Spanish club until 2030.
Vargas came through the youth squads of the Sounders, having made his Major League Soccer debut in 2021 and became the third youngest player to feature in the competition.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Obed and a proud moment for Sounders FC,” Seattle general manager Craig Waibel said.
The Sounders said that after Vargas joined its youth academy in 2019 he spent the last five-plus seasons with the first team, making 130 appearances with eight goals and 16 assists. He helped it win the 2022 CONCACAF Champions Cup and 2025 Leagues Cup.
“From the time he joined the academy in 2019, Obed has exhibited maturity, professionalism and commitment to his growth as a player,” Waibel said. “We're excited to see him take this next step.”
Neither club disclosed the fee for Vargas but the Sounders said the deal included a sell-on fee if he was transferred in the future.
Atletico also made official the signing from Atalanta of Ademola Lookman, a 28-year-old Nigeria forward.
Diego Simeone's team previously sold midfielder Conor Gallagher to Tottenham and let Giacomo Raspadori go to Atalanta.
Barcelona brought back full back João Cancelo on a loan from Al-Hilal, while veteran goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen, who lost his position as a starter to Joan García, was sent to fellow Catalan club Girona on a loan.
Real Madrid stayed quiet, with its only transaction being the loan of Endrick to Lyon.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Union SG's Kevin Mac Allister, left, and Atalanta's Ademola Lookman challenge for the ball during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Union Saint-Gilloise and Atalanta, in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
CAIRO (AP) — A dozen Palestinian returnees were allowed into Gaza from Egypt late Monday after the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing was marred by delays. Their arrival came hours after a small group of medical evacuees was ferried from the territory into Egypt.
The reopening of the crossing marked a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but mostly a symbolic one, with few people allowed to travel and no goods allowed to pass through. The limitations were apparent Monday as crossings fell well short of the 50 people officials had said would be allowed to move in each direction.
About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave the devastated territory via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials. Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.
The crossing had been closed since Israeli troops seized it in May 2024. The number of travelers is expected to increase over time if the system is successful. Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry.
Ambulances queued for hours at the border before ferrying patients into Egypt, the state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television channel showed. Just before midnight, a bus arrived in Gaza carrying Palestinian returnees who had fled the fighting early in the war. As the vehicle entered the compound of a hospital in Khan Younis, a girl wearing barrettes and an older woman stood just inside the front door, waving to relatives anxious for their return.
Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.
Violence continued across the coastal territory Monday. Gaza hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp, killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy. Israel’s military said it was looking into the incident.
Rajaa Abu Mustafa stood outside a Gaza hospital where her 17-year-old son Mohamed awaited evacuation. He was blinded by a shot to the eye last year as he joined desperate Palestinians seeking food from aid trucks outside the southern city of Khan Younis.
“The health ministry called and told us that we will travel to Egypt for (his) treatment,” she said.
About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive patients evacuated from Gaza through Rafah, authorities said. But the isolated crossing is separated from Cairo by a six-hour drive. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it has readied “safe spaces” on the Egyptian side of the border to support those evacuated.
More than 10,000 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since the war began, according to the World Health Organization. But Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing brought the pace of evacuations to a crawl, with an average of 17 patients a week leaving for most of the time since.
Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, cutting off what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.
U.N. officials on Monday called on other countries to take in more patients from Gaza “so that everyone receives the treatment they need.”
With the crossing reopened, Gaza residents looked forward to the return of family members who fled earlier in the war.
“This time it's real,” said Iman Rashwan, anticipating the arrival of her mother and sister. They left Gaza a year ago when her mother's heart condition worsened and she was referred for treatment in Egypt.
“They called us yesterday and said they received news that they will leave,” Rashwan said. “We have been waiting for it for too long.”
The Rafah crossing will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross. Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter and exit Gaza.
A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed when Israel's navy hit tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said. According to Nasser hospital, which received the body, the attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on Gaza’s coast.
Also on Monday, Israel's military said it killed four Palestinians in northern Gaza who approached troops near the line marking Israeli-controlled territory, “posing an imminent threat to them.”
More than 520 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza's health ministry. They are among the over 71,800 Palestinians killed since the start of the war, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.
The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Israel had said seizing the Rafah crossing in May 2024 was part of efforts to combat arms-smuggling by the Hamas militant group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.
Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move forward.
The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.
The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.
The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.
Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Khan Younis, Gaza and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
This story has been corrected to show that the latest figure from Gaza's Health Ministry says 71,800 Palestinians have been killed.
Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Juman Al-Najjar, a 3-year-old Palestinian patient, looks out from a vehicle with other patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian patients wave from a vehicle in Khan Younis on their way to the Rafah crossing, as they leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A U.N. vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian patients board a vehicle in Khan Younis on their way to the Rafah crossing, as they leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Juman Al-Najjar, a 3-year-old Palestinian patient, looks out from a vehicle with other patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners pray beside the body of Iyad Abu Rabi, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Khadija Abu Rabi cradles the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Khadija Abu Rabi mourns over the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A crane enters the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Trucks carrying humanitarian aids line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, heading for inspection by Israeli authorities before entering the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing on the way to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
