The Juventus striker Paulo Dybala has revealed that he has finally entered talks discussing a contract extension at the Italian football club. Rumours were that talks stalled earlier this summer as the 27-year old was linked with a potential move to a handful of other clubs including Tottenham Hotspur.
The Argentine striker’s contract was due to only keep him at Juventus until the end of 2021, but Juventus boardroom bosses are evidently stepping up their bid to keep him at Turin. This comes after Dybala scored a penalty in the 3-0 win over Malmo in the Champions League.
It will give club director Pavel Nedved added impetus to extend the current deal to ensure that Juventus stay competitive with the biggest clubs in Europe. Dybala has been at Turin for six years now, and it’s thought that it will take a significant rise in wages to keep him with the Old Lady.
Currently it is the Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt who is the club’s highest earner as he takes home £10 million each year. But ever since Cristiano Ronaldo surprised the footballing world by leaving Juventus this summer, it’s meant that players like Dybala are jostling to take the legend’s place and pay packet.
Dybala joined Juventus from Palermo in 2015 and he has managed to score 102 goals in 257 appearances. Currently the star faces competition from other talented forwards like Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata. Plus the resigning of Moise Kean will mean that the pressure is on Dybala to deliver the goods. All of which sets up this week for some fairly interesting contractual talks between the Argentine striker and the Juventus hierarchy.
Why would Dybala leave Juventus?
Now that Cristiano Ronaldo is out of the picture, there might be the suspicion that Dybala would be happy to get extra game time at Juventus. However, with just a single point picked up from three Serie A games, it’s clear that everything is not well at the Allianz Stadium. After all, everyone from regular Italian football fans to some of these legal New Jersey betting sites feel that it’s looking unlikely that Juventus will claim either the Serie A title or the Champions League trophy this season.
Max Allegri is clearly having issues galvanising strength in the middle of the pitch. While the purchase of Manuel Locatelli looks like being a smart move, the lack of a midfielder who plays just ahead of defence seems unforgivable. Plus with players like Danilo, Rodrigo Bentancur and Adrien Rabiot being woefully inconsistent, it’s clear that Allegri has some tough problems to solve. Already the rumour mill is working in overdrive that Juventus might try and sign Axel Witsel from Borussia Dortmund, but it’s a long time until that winter transfer period comes around.
Not that everything is Allegri’s fault. The Welsh international Aaron Ramsey has had a frustrating time in battling with a variety of injuries, and the US star Weston McKennie will take time to adapt to life in Serie A. Above all, Allegri seems to have inherited a deeply unbalanced team that lacks a real strength in depth. The sudden departure of Ronaldo has only heightened the instability within the Juventus ranks.
All of which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for that fact that Juventus’ main rivals in Serie A football seem to be going from strength to strength. Inter are once again looking strong despite the departure of Romelu Lukaku while Milan will remain a threat. The arrival of Jose Mourinho at Roma should give the team the kind of ruthlessness that has been sorely lacking in recent years.
It all forms a troubling picture of Juventus fans and it’s entirely understandable why Dybala could be looking for an early exit. All of which makes the run up to the winter transfer period critically important for the Old Lady.
