Juventus: Andrea Agnelli explains the Paulo Dybala contract impasse

Juventus and Paulo Dybala have yet to reach an agreement to a contract extension after months of talks.

Last season, Paulo Dybala was crucial to Juventus making it nine straight Scudetti. La Joya was named Serie A’s MVP on the strength of his breath-taking performances, which included mazy runs and sharp long-range strikes. He and Cristiano Ronaldo used their individual brilliance to lead the Black and Whites to success, as they had to overcome midfield and tactical issues.

Dybala is a key leader for Juve who has worn the armband at times this season, but he hasn’t enjoyed a fruitful start to the 2020-2021 season. After missing several games due to injury, Dybala struggled for form in both Serie A and the Champions League, though he finally showed signs of his old self at Genoa last weekend.

Juventus and Dybala still need to agree to a contract extension. It seemed like the club and player would close a deal before the season started after La Joya’s 2019-2020 heroics, but no deal has been reached since then. And Dybala’s struggles started to lead to questions about his future with the club.

The reason for the lack of progress? As you’d expect, there’s a clear difference in valuation between the player and the club. Juve president Andrea Agnelli spoke more about the issue at hand, per Football Italia, implying that Dybala wants a deal that would place him among the best five players in Europe. Meanwhile, Agnelli and the Bianconeri are prepared to offer him a deal that would place him in the top 20, and they need to see Dybala produce like a top-five player before committing that kind of money.

There is nothing unreasonable about what Agnelli is stating. Dybala has never been a top-five player in European football. The potential has been there, but we have yet to see it. His inconsistency precludes him from being mentioned among the Cristiano Ronaldos or even the Mohamed Salahs of the world. Even in Serie A, it’s fair to wonder if Dybala is better than Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku despite being the reigning MVP, and he has even been outplayed by Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrik Mkhitaryan this season. So even in Serie A, he has not played like a top-five player in 2020-2021.

Of course, Dybala just needs to get back in form. He has a lot to prove this season, but you would rather see a star player bet on himself. He has an uphill battle to proving he’s on the Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski plane, and so he may have to settle on a sum closer to what Agnelli is offering. But there is a lot of football left to be played, so we shall see what the rest of 2020-2021 holds for the talented gem of Turin.