Paulo Dybala will leave Juventus upon the completion of his contract at the end of the current season, club CEO Maurizio Arrivabene has confirmed. The attacker is no longer central to the Juve project, says the Bianconeri supremo.
In a surprising turn of events, the club had pulled away from the offer on the table for Dybala earlier during the season. Arrivabene has now confirmed to the media that the Argentine’s deal will not be renewed, after the club’s priorities changed following the arrival of striker Dusan Vlahovic from ACF Fiorentina in January.
“With the arrival of Vlahovic, the footballing structure at the club has changed. Juventus’ project has changed and part of this change included Dybala’s contract which today was not renewed,”
Arrivabene told the media.
“It would have been easy for Juventus to make a much-reduced offer but it would have been disrespectful to Paulo.
“Paulo is no longer at the center of the Juventus project, that’s why we preferred to make this decision. No-one has ever questioned his quality but there were considerations to be made over his appearance numbers and length of his contract.”
he added.
The now 28-year-old signed for the Old Lady in 2015 following a breakthrough season at Palermo. He won the Serie A title in his first five seasons at the club, scoring 113 goals to date in 283 appearances.
Giuseppe Marotta, the executive behind the signing of the Argentine for Juventus in 2015, is currently the CEO of Inter Milan. It comes as no surprise, then, that the Nerazzurri are linked with a summer move for Dybala, as per Football Italia. Reigning Serie A champions are said to be leading the race to sign the forward for free this summer, but Atletico Madrid, too, have been credited with an interest in the player.
Dybala came close to leaving Juventus in the past, most notably, in 2019 when the Bianconeri were in discussions with Manchester United over a swap deal with Romelu Lukaku. Tottenham Hotspur, too, attempted to sign the Argentine in the same window, but he opted to stay in Turin instead.
