Paul Pogba #10 of Juventus dribbles the ball up the pitch against Chivas during their preseason friendly match at Allegiant Stadium on July 22, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Juventus defeated Chivas 2-0.

Another intriguing Serie A title race looks on the cards this season as Italy’s big boys have brought in some well-known names in a bid to dethrone champions AC Milan.

Let’s look at some of the most important new faces ready to make an impact ahead of the weekend’s kick-off:

Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan)
Lukaku’s return to Inter was supposed to be part of a summer transfer campaign which would make them clear favourites for this year’s Scudetto.

However, their other two main targets, Paulo Dybala and Gleison Bremer were nabbed by Roma and Juventus respectively, leaving a big weight of expectation on Belgium striker Lukaku, who comes back to the Milan club with a reputation to rebuild after a dismal season at Chelsea.

He scored 64 times in 95 games in his previous two seasons at Inter and drove them to their first Serie A title in more than a decade, the 2021 crown ending both an 11-year drought and Juve’s grip on Italian football.

Paul Pogba (Juventus)
The France midfielder’s return to Turin from Manchester United was one of two big free-agent moves made by Juventus in the summer and a boost to Massimiliano Allegri despite a knee injury ruining his pre-season.

A meniscus injury in his right knee has pushed Pogba’s second Juve debut back a few weeks but with a World Cup looming in November and December, Pogba has reportedly decided against an operation before the start of 2023, leaving some worries over what kind of player Allegri will have at his disposal.

A Pogba on top form would close a gap in midfield which has been Juve’s weak point for some time.

Georginio Wijnaldum (Roma)
Roma have been riding the crest of a wave since winning the inaugural Europa Conference League last season, and the addition of Wijnaldum on loan from Paris Saint-Germain has made observers take Jose Mourinho’s team very seriously.

Some have even made them a dark horse for the league title now that the Netherlands international, a Champions League winner with Liverpool and still only 31 years old, will add his own brand of style and substance to Roma’s midfield.

Angel Di Maria (Juventus)
Juve’s second big free-agent signing of the summer is another certified name who brings a world-class pedigree to their attack, which has lost his Argentina teammate Dybala.

Copa America winner Di Maria moves to Turin after being released by PSG, where he won five league titles and five French Cups but missed out on the Champions League in 2020 when they were beaten in the final by Bayern Munich.

harles De Ketelaere (AC Milan)
Belgium forward De Ketelaere is to date Milan’s only big signing at 35 million euros ($36.2m) from Club Brugge, the second Belgian brought in by the champions after Divock Origi arrived as a free agent.

The 21-year-old, who has signed a five-year deal with Stefano Pioli’s side, has represented his country eight times and won the Belgian title with his hometown club in the last three seasons.

Milan are hoping that De Ketelaere will add extra punch to an attack which struggled at times last season, in particular against the league’s lesser lights.

Paulo Dybala (Roma)
Roma’s status as dark horses for the title is largely down to Dybala’s arrival as a free agent, a deal which could have a huge impact on the coming campaign.

The Argentina forward was expected to sign for Inter after being released by Juve but Lukaku’s return and an inability to shift dead wood in attack meant that they were unable to afford him.

In swooped Roma, and a telephone chat with Mourinho convinced Dybala to take a chance — and a massive pay cut — with a team who do not have Champions League football but have shown serious ambition after winning the Conference League in May.

Nick Kyrgios broke twice in the final set as he rallied to topple world number one Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the ATP Montreal Masters on Wednesday.

Australia’s Wimbledon finalist beat Medvedev 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-2 to produce his second career upset of a reigning number one after ambushing Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014.

Kyrgios produced his usual on-court antics, complaining about a high bounce, hitting a ball into the stands to draw a warning and bickering with his player box in moments of tension.

But after gathering his formidable resources, the 27-year-old ranked 37th finished off the match in exactly two hours.

“This is our fourth meeting and we know each other well,” Kyrgios said. “I don’t go in looking at the rankings, just the guy in front of me.

“I had a clean objective today — play a lot of serve and volley and execute better.

“Hopefully I can keep this rolling and keep on winning. Medvedev is a machine — he’s number one for a reason.”

Both players were coming off weekend title wins, Kyrgios at the Washington 500 on Sunday and Medvedev at Los Cabos, Mexico, on Saturday.

Kyrgios has won 14 of his last 15 matches to improve to 29-7 for 2022.

Medvedev lost for the 11th time in 2022, but by reaching the final at Los Cabos — where he lifted his first trophy of the season — he is assured of taking the number one ranking into his US Open title defense later this month.

He was barred from Wimbledon as the tournament excluded Russian and Belarussian players over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who like Medvedev enjoyed a first-round bye, fared no better in his opening match.

American Tommy Paul spoiled the Spaniard’s Canadian debut with a 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 victory.

The unseeded American converted his fifth match point to seal the second-round victory in three hours and 20 minutes.

Alcaraz came into the event with two prestige Masters 1000 titles from Miami and Madrid and holding a 42-7 record this season.

But the 34th-ranked Paul claimed victory on a volley winner after holding off the Spaniard’s charge from 5-2 down in the third set. The American stayed in the match as he rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to start his comeback surge.

Elsewhere, Italian Jannik Sinner needed three sets to get past Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 while Alex de Minaur lined up an all-Aussie Thursday match against Kyrgios by defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

Retired athletics coach Alaba Ogunde, has disclosed exclusively told The PUNCH how she discovered world and Commonwealth Games champion Tobi Amusan.

Amusan sent the social media into meltdown after she broke the women’s 100m hurdles record at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, US with a stunning semi-final time of 12.12secs to erase Kendra Harrison’s 2016 effort by 0.08secs. She ran faster in the final, but her 12.06secs was ruled ineligible by an illegal tailwind.

She continued her impressive 2022 season at the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with another gold medal.

She clocked a blistering 12.30s to smash the Games’ record on Sunday morning at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

The athlete, who hails from Ijebu-Ode, also inspired the Nigeria relay team to their first-ever gold medal in the women’s 4×100 at the Commonwealth Games.

Amid reports in the media quoting a coach, who claimed to have discovered the 25-year-old athlete, the 68-year-old Ogunde, then a staff of the Ogun State Sports Council, said she discovered Amusan when she was posted to Ijebu Ode in 2005.

“I saw several reports that Tobi was discovered by someone else, but I want to make it clear that I was the one who discovered her,”

“In 2004 I was transferred to Ijebu Ode sports council from the headquarters in Abeokuta. I was mandated to cover all areas, including the rural and the urban areas, and I visit almost all the schools back then.

“In the course of moving around, I discovered so many talents and Tobi was one of them. I also discovered Omotola Kuku and the mentor of Tobi herself, Biola Onakoya, who was a 400m runner and so many others.

“No doubt, one person cannot train a child, but I was the one who noticed that Amusan had what it took to become a future champion.

“She was a student of Our Ladies of Apostle in Ijebu Ode and the Games Master then was Adeyemi, though I cannot remember his other name and Dr Adetoye Alatise was the Chairman of Ijebu Ode Local Government Area, though he is now the Oba of Ososa Ijebu, he supported our course for the development of young talents.

“We had an U-15 athletics competition in Ogun State and my team won it for two consecutive times before being dethroned by Ilaro and Tobi was part of my success story.”

Ogunde added, “I was the head athletics coach in Ijebu Ode back then, and I had so many responsibilities and people around me. We do have trials, inter-house sports and so many other events and I had to hand over the supervision to one of the trainers known as Charlie Baba. He was an apprentice under Ayodele Solaja back then.

“He was the one that suggested that we merged them all with the athletes under Solaja and Tobi was very good in 100m, 200m, high jump and long jump. The truth is whoever is good in all these fields can easily cope with participating in 100m hurdles, as we saw with Chioma Ajunwa.