Paulo Dybala had some telling remarks after Sunday’s win over Genoa, where he scored his first Serie A goal in five months: “I love Juventus, I have always said that I want to stay. I have a nice relationship with the fans. I am very loyal to club and people know it.”
Despite lengthy negotiations, an extension does not appear in sight: “Some fake news have been written about my contract. My agent has spent a lot of time in Turin and never received a call: I am not happy when they talk about made-up numbers. It would be better if they told the truth, speaking about that kind of money turn the people against me despite all my love for Juventus.”
President Andrea Agnelli responded during the Golden Boy award ceremony: “We love him back, we see him as our next captain. He received an offer that would put him among the top 20 players in Europe and he knows him. We are waiting for his answer. His ambition is top be one of the best five footballers in the world and we will support him, but he is not there yet.”
Our view
Dybala’s contract expires in 2022 and the extension talks have seemingly gone nowhere for months, but a resolution would need to arrive before the summer, otherwise a divorce would be inevitable since he would enter the final year of his deal. La Joya is currently the third highest-earner at the club with €7.3M annual wages, slightly behind Matthijs De Ligt (€8M) and a miles away from Cristiano Ronaldo (€31M). He reportedly asked for an eight-digit salary, but his performances will likely need to improve for it to materialize. It should not be forgotten that the Bianconeri pretty much sold him to Manchester United and Tottenham in the summer of 2019 and only some previous likeness rights problems and the player himself stopped the departure.