Dybala aiming to avoid tears on Juve return with Roma

MILAN, Italy: Paulo Dybala will lead the Roma charge on Saturday as the team seek to build on a perfect Serie A start when he returns to Juventus, the ground he last left in tears.

Roma travel to Turin following two single-goal wins from matches with Salernitana and Cremonese but with some of their pre-season optimism deflated by injuries to Georginio Wijnaldum and Nicolo Zaniolo.

Zaniolo has been Roma’s most impressive performer in their opening two matches but after the Italy international suffered a dislocated shoulder on Monday the onus will be on star signing Dybala to strike a blow against his former club, who let him go in the summer.

The Argentina forward was in bits as he said goodbye to Juventus fans back in May, sitting on the Allianz Stadium pitch with Dusan Vlahovic well after the fans had gone home and pondering his future after management decided to end his seven-year spell at Italy’s biggest club.

Protracted negotiations over a contract renewal ended with Juve pulling out of a verbal agreement to increase his salary to eight million euros plus bonuses, considered too expensive by the club hierarchy.

The 28-year-old was tipped to join Juve’s biggest rivals Inter Milan for most of the summer but after they signed Romelu Lukaku the deal became impossible to do for a club who are attempting the tricky balancing act of cutting costs while still remaining competitive.

So in swooped Roma for possibly the best value deal of the European transfer window, the capital club and in particular Jose Mourinho convincing a proven performer to take a fraction of what he was asking Juve in order to play for a team on the up.

Dybala will be charged with improving Roma’s record at the Allianz Stadium — one win in 12