Paulo Dybala will leave Juventus this summer on something of a sour note, unceremoniously dumped and leaving the Bianconeri on a free transfer.
Dybala, 28, has spent the last seven years in Turin since joining the club from Palermo in June 2015. The Argentine international has won five Serie A titles and four Coppa Italia trophies, scoring 113 goals in 283 games. That includes 13 this season, during which relations between he, his representatives and club officials have been far from sanguine.
So how did it come that ‘La Joya’ - The Jewel - went from being hailed as the successor to Alessandro Del Piero and the club’s poster boy, to being ushered out of the back door? Bianconeri bosses admit that the January arrival of Dusan Vlahovic ‘changed everything’, but Dybala's exit has in fact been a long-time coming.
Ultimately, it began with Cristiano Ronaldo. When domestic dominance was no longer enough to satisfy chairman Andrea Agnelli, the club’s obsession with the Champions League - having fallen at the final hurdle in both the 2015 and 2017 finals to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively - saw them gamble on the Portuguese superstar to the tune of £210million in transfer fees and wages over his three years at the club.
In the year before Ronaldo arrived, Dybala scored 22 times in Serie A, 26 in all and was the club’s unquestioned crown jewel. But, forced to adapt amid tactical changes and with Ronaldo now the centre of the Juventus universe, Dybala, perhaps feeling slighted, struggled.
Only five league goals followed in 2018-19 - he would score only 20 in 83 league games during their time at the club together - and his future Juve boss, Andrea Pirlo, publicly declared that Ronaldo’s arrival had proved a huge mental problem for Dybala: "Dybala's value has decreased and that's not Juventus' fault. I think the problem is psychological. Dybala needs to understand that he is playing for Juventus, not in a medium team. Everyone will try to help him but he is the one who must recharge batteries, he must become the same player that he used to be.”
Pirlo's comments certainly weren't dismissed by the club's top brass, who had taken note of Dybala's struggles on the international stage when playing alongside Lionel Messi. Duly, ahead of the 2019-20 campaign for which Maurizio Sarri - wedded to 4-3-3 formation in which Dybala had no natural home - arrived from Chelsea, player and club decided upon a parting of ways.
A move to Manchester United was mooted, but it was Tottenham who came closest, agreeing a £64million deal which all parties wanted: Spurs, on the back of their Champions League final appearance, would seal a club record signing, Juventus would balance their books and move on a player who was no longer a natural fit and Dybala would get a fresh start under his compatriot, Mauricio Pochettino. Instead, a complicated deal fell down over issues with his image rights.
Thus, he remained in Turin and talks over a renewal duly began in the winter, under the club’s former sporting director, Fabio Paratici, now of Tottenham. However, the outbreak of Covid in early 2020 and the multiple financial issues stemming from the pandemic - and Ronaldo’s contract - pushed those talks onto the backburner, as did the subsequent changes from Sarri to Pirlo, and then back to Max Allegri for his second spell.
With Ronaldo having departed for Manchester United last summer, a move designed to save the club in excess of £70million, Juve, in negotiations led by Paratici’s sucessor, Federico Cherubini, ultimately offered and agreed to a five-year contract in October 2021, worth £6.5million-a-year after tax plus £2m bonuses. However, the Old Lady subsequently reneged on the deal amid concerns over Dybala’s form in the latter part of 2021, plus injury issues and the potential for more physical problems in the coming years. Dybala had been ready to sign, but Juve wanted to wait.
Then, ahead of the Super Coppa defeat to Inter on January 12, Juve CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, seemingly frustrated with Dybala’s most recent injury absence - he missed four games in the final six weeks of 2021 - took public aim at the player: "Whoever wears our No.10 must realise the weight that this number has for us.” In that match at San Siro, Dybala was only used by Allegri as a second-half substitute; Dejan Kulusevski, subsequently sold to Tottenham, was preferred.
Combined, it left a sour taste with Dybala. Back in the starting lineup on January 17 in the league game against Udinese, he made his displeasure with the situation known immediately after opening the scoring. Notably he didn’t celebrate with his much-recognised "Dybala mask" but, rather, ran back to the halfway line and stood, staring defiantly, at the VIP section of the Allianz Stadium. Drawing his ire were vice-president Pavel Nedved and Arrivabene.
Speaking post-game, Dybala told DAZN: "There has been a lot of noise, a lot of things have happened and I prefer not to talk about it. I have nothing to prove to anyone. The club has decided that we will talk in February or March.”
At that time, speculation a new striker would arrive before the end of the transfer window was mounting. On-field results made it clear that it was a necessity, given Allegri’s side’s relative struggles in Serie A to keep in touch with the title-chasing Milan clubs and Napoli.
Dybala’s camp, unhappy with his situation, were keen to wait to see how it played out. They wanted more details on the club’s financial situation and needed greater clarity on the parameters in which they were dealing, amid a plethora of reports - notably from Sky Sport Italia - that any new offer would be coming in much lower. Such knowledge, his agent, Jorge Antun, believed, would strengthen their hand ahead of further talks. Instead, it proved disastrous.
Duly, the £62million transfer of Fiorentina forward Vlahovic - swooping to sign the Serbian ahead of Arsenal - and the £30millon, four-and-a-half year contract he signed, showed the club’s hand. However, while it gave Dybala’s camp a starting post for fresh negotiations, it completely moved the goalposts where the club were concerned.
Vlahovic, only 22 and with 21 goals in each of the last two Serie A seasons - 38 for Fiorentina, 4 in seven for Juve so far - will be the club’s attacking focal point in the coming years. Dybala has wanted to be paid as such, but, simply, he isn’t that guy anymore and the kind of deal he wants simply doesn’t make sense to the club’s top brass.
For Juve, the question was simple. Why pay another £67million - the amount, with taxes, that a new deal would cost - over four years? On Monday morning, Anton was told as such. He'd been expecting a low-ball offer but instead, was told the club would go on without Dybala. According to both La Gazzetta and La Republicca, in a subsequent phone call he was told "it’s pointless to meet again, we won’t keep him," by Cherubini.
CEO Arrivabene confirmed as much as he announced the sides will go their separate ways when his current deal expires in the summer: “Juventus have not renewed Paulo Dybala’s contract,” he said.
“With the purchases made in January, with the arrival of Dusan (Vlahovic), the Juventus project has undergone some changes. Part of these changes concern Dybala's contract. Paulo’s position was no longer at the centre of the project. That’s why this kind of decision was preferred.”
Indeed, quizzed further, Arrivabene hinted that, far from bothering to offer a new deal on lower terms, Juve actively withdrew from proceedings: “The parameters in October were different. I had already spoken about it… no one has ever questioned Paulo’s ability. We made our choices in January and we got here.
“Paulo spent seven years of his career with us, an offer of that kind would not have shown the respect that there is towards him. It is important to underline that the management does not take decisions against Juventus, but in favour of the club. We’re not going to do any other proposal - the decision has been made.”
Juventus will take the money they figure to save by allowing Dybala to leave and look to use it elsewhere. There's an awareness that they've had far more misses than hits in recent transfer windows, leaving them an unbalanced, under-performing squad and that they've lost their edge; rivals have caught them up and, as they seek to bounce back, they need to become ruthless once again.
For Dybala, now it's about what's next? Premier League moves have already been mooted such are the potential riches on offer, but there appears no natural home among any of the 'Big Six' - certainly not at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City - while the only other side who could meet his salary demands are Newcastle. Would that appeal?
PSG have similarly been linked for some time, although what they do this summer in regards playing staff and coaches is anyone's guess, particularly with sporting director Leonardo set to depart. Atletico Madrid too have been mooted, but the presence of Antoine Griezmann and in particular Joao Felix leaves you asking why?
That leaves Inter Milan seemingly as the destination most likely, with a number of sources close to the situation stating negotiations have already begun. Inter CEO Beppe Marotta is the man who initially took Dybala to Juventus and a move to the Nerazzurri would allow minimal personal upheaval, offer close to the kind of contract he was looking for in Turin. It also offers up the possibility of revenge.
Because, make no mistake, the Juventus-Dybala split isn’t an uncoupling, a joint decision that all sides would be better off apart like it would have been three years ago. This was a brutal, dismissive dumping.
