23/08/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | AUG 23, 2025

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De Bruyne leads Napoli’s Scudetto defence

KEVIN DE BRUYNE (pic) will lead Napoli’s Serie A title defence on Sunday (12.30am Malaysian time) when he makes his full debut at promoted Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside ageing icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his link-up with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the last two campaigns with Manchester City, where he won six Premier League titles and in 2023 the Champions THE Premier League’s transfer spending spree reached record levels with more than a week of trading to go as promoted Leeds United signed AC Milan forward Noah Okafor for a reported £18 million (RM104m) late on Thursday. Okafor’s arrival at Elland Road, following Bournemouth’s signing of Amine Adli from Bayer Leverkusen, pushed the total spend beyond the £2.36 billion (RM13.6b) splashed out in the 2023 summer window, according to FootballTransfers.com. Several other big-money deals between now and the closing of the window, including the impending sale of Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace to Arsenal, mean spending by the world’s most lucrative football league could even hit £3 billion (RM17.4b). While the list of big spenders is topped by the likes of champions Liverpool (£289 million/RM1.67b), Chelsea (£246 million/RM1.42b), Manchester United (£208 million/RM1.2b) and Arsenal (£194 million/RM1.12b), even clubs with smaller resources have been splashing the cash. Six clubs have broken their transfer records, including Liverpool paying £100 million (RM580m), and another £16 million (RM92m) in add-on payments, to Bayer Leverkusen for Florian Wirtz. Burnley set a new club record by paying £25 million (RM145m) for Chelsea midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu while fellow promoted club Sunderland did the same by signing midfielder Habib Diarra for £26 million (RM150.8m) from Strasbourg, part of a £142 million (RM823m) squad-strengthening drive. Despite being outside the Premier League for eight seasons, Sunderland have spent more than any club in Europe’s other top leagues apart from Spain’s Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Nottingham Forest broke their transfer record twice during the current window in which they have spent almost £150 million (RM870m), including the signings of Switzerland winger Dan Ndoye from Bologna and winger Omari Hutchison from Ipswich Town. Spending by England’s Premier League this year is more than that of Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1 and Spain’s LaLiga combined. Serie A is second on the spending list with around £783 million (RM4.5b) on player investment although the league’s clubs have recouped more than that in sales. The Premier League’s muscle in the transfer market is largely explained by huge broadcasting deals. This season is the first of a four-year domestic TV rights deal worth a record £6.7 billion (RM38b). – Reuters EPL clubs break spending record

Bruyne said last month.

League. But he was excellent in Napoli’s recent friendly against Girona, scoring twice and setting up the other in a 3-2 win, and, with Antonio Conte staying put, southern Italy’s biggest club look a strong bet to retain the Scudetto . “Competitively it’s a very nice place to be. They were champions last year, they showed that they have a lot of quality. “Obviously it’s very different to what I had in England but that’s something that is very exciting,” De

reinforce an attack which had already received reinforcements in the shape of towering Italy striker Lorenzo Lucca and Netherlands international Noa Lang. Serial winner Conte refusing to return to Juventus has given Napoli the stability they lost when Luciano Spalletti departed in the aftermath of their Scudetto victory two years ago. Napoli will need it with pretenders to their throne also making moves in the transfer market. Inter Milan, who host Torino on Tuesday (2.45am), will try to bounce back from conceding to Napoli a Scudetto considered theirs to lose and a historic hammering in last season’s Champions League final. – AFP

“I feel like I have some motivation left and quality, I think I can still do something at this level… I think the main reason is that I wanted to play at the highest level.” However Lukaku’s thigh tear, suffered in a friendly win over Olympiakos, has thrown a spanner in the works as the bustling centre forward is set to be out for months, with some Italian media saying that he might not be back in action before 2026. Napoli are now scrambling to

Alonso seeking X factor Real Madrid look for more fluidity on trip to Oviedo A FTER winning without convincing against Osasuna in their opening match of the season in La Liga, Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid head to Real Oviedo on

appearance. The Argentine teenager is tipped for a huge future and made his La Liga debut on Tuesday off the bench for Madrid. Mastantuono moved to the Bernabeu in June, signing from River Plate for just over €63 million (RM315m) and penning a six-year deal. The winger or attacking midfielder, who made his senior Argentina debut in early June just before playing at the Club World Cup with River, will hope to make a big impact in La Liga this season. “He has that Argentine grit and competitive spirit,” said Alonso this week, while also hailing the youngster’s ability to play the final pass. With Rodrygo still being tipped to depart Real in the transfer window, that would leave Mastantuono and Brahim Diaz to contest a spot on the right wing. The 24-year-old Rodrygo, long linked with a move to the Premier League, was an unused substitute in Madrid’s La Liga opener, raising fresh doubts about his role this season. After the game, the Madrid manager moved to play down speculation, stressing that the Brazilian is still part of his plans. “Nothing’s happening,” Alonso told reporters. “The Club World Cup was a different context because of the competition. “Today is just a game, we can put the rest behind us. What counts is this season, and of course, I’m counting on Rodrygo.” Alonso will now hope for a more fluid display as his side continue what looks like a kind opening run of fixtures building up to the derby away to Atletico in late September. – AFP/Agencies sale by the club, throwing De Zerbi’s plans for the season into disarray already. “Do you think I am happy to be in this situation with one of our best players from last season, who I had presented as an example? Honestly we are the victims here,” railed Marseille president Pablo Longoria. Marseille sporting director Medhi Benatia told RMC Sport that the phone “has not stopped ringing” when asked if clubs had come in for France international Rabiot, whose contract expires at the end of this season. He added that there would be no turning back on the decision to place the duo on the market, and it remains to be seen how De Zerbi’s side react in today’s (11pm) match at home to newly promoted Paris FC. – AFP

Monday (3.30am Malaysian time) for what will be a gala occasion for the newly-promoted side. Oviedo returned to Spain’s top flight after an absence of almost quarter of a century by beating Mirandes in the second-tier playoff final in June.

The club from the northern region of Asturias, coached by Serbian former player Veljko Paunovic, were therefore left facing a quick turnaround before tackling life back in La Liga. With a 40-year-old Santi Cazorla coming off the bench and Venezuela veteran Salomon

Rondon leading the attack, Oviedo lost 2-0 away at Villarreal in their first game back in the elite. Now they host the 15-time European champions in front of what will be a sell-out 30,000 crowd at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere. Alonso took charge of Madrid ahead of the Club World Cup, in which his new charges reached the semifinals before suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Paris Saint Germain. After a short close-season break, Real returned to training before edging Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to a Kylian Mbappe penalty. “After a two-week pre-season, against a team who had longer, there were things missing but the result gives us stability going forward,” said Alonso after that match. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, signed before the Club World Cup, made their Liga bows for Madrid in that game while left-back Alvaro Carreras made his debut after joining from Benfica. Teenage Argentine sensation Franco Mastantuono also came on for his first

Madrid’s Franco Mastantuono (left) in action against Osasuna’s Abel Bretones. – AFPPIC

Marseille plunged into crisis after start of new season A CRISIS is never far away at Marseille but the speed at which things have unravelled for the French giants at the start of this season is unprecedented. Emerick Aubameyang was another headline grabbing recruit as he returned to OM following a year in Saudi Arabia.

Crucially, stars from last season like Mason Greenwood, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Leonardo Balerdi and Adrien Rabiot all stayed, leaving Marseille looking strong for their return to Europe’s biggest stage. But everything went awry on the opening night of the season last weekend as De Zerbi’s team lost 1-0 away to Rennes despite playing most of the game with an extra man. That was followed by what Marseille president Pablo Longoria called an “extremely violent” bust up in the dressing room at full-time involving Rabiot and English winger Jonathan Rowe. The two players have since been put up for

The former European champions came into the campaign fresh from finishing second in Ligue 1 last season behind champions Paris Saint Germain and with hopes of pushing the capital club closer this time around. Roberto De Zerbi’s team also have Champions League football to look forward to and there was plenty of optimism around the Stade Velodrome on the back of the business done by the club in the transfer window. Brazilian winger Igor Paixao joined from Feyenoord for a reported club-record fee of €35 million (RM175m), while Gabon striker Pierre