We’re all but a week into September and yet, Paulo Dybala is still contracted at Juventus until 2022. His situation remains unresolved.
Dybala’s entourage, including the player’s agent, Jorge Antun, met with members of the Juventus hierarchy on a couple of occasions last month but failed to reach an agreement despite the club’s confidence.
At the time, Juventus were said to be willing Dybala a new deal worth around €8m-a-year until 2025 with the option of a year’s extension.
However, there’s still some disparity between the Bianconeri’s proposal and the player’s demands.
What does Dybala want?
The sticking point in negotiations is, obviously, Dybala’s demands. According to Sport Mediaset (via JuveFC), Juventus are offering the Argentine, the man now revered as the face of Turin following Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit, a deal worth between €9m and €10m-a-year but Antun is holding out for a €12m salary.
As it stands, that’s a request Juve are not willing to accept. However, Nicolo Schira reports that a new meeting is scheduled for the end of September to try and finally reach an agreement.
With Ronaldo and his monster salary slowly filtering off the Bianconeri’s wage book, surely the club will be more comfortable with offering Dybala a more lucrative deal? Especially considering his importance to Massimiliano Allegri’s second project.
Nevertheless, should Juventus give in to Antun’s demands, Dybala will likely become the joint-highest earner at the club alongside Matthijs de Ligt, who garnered a huge contract after signing from Ajax in 2019.
Should we be concerned?
Should Juve fail to reach an agreement by the end of the year, Dybala will be free to talk to clubs over a pre-contract agreement for the following summer. If we reach that point then yes, Juventus fans have a right to be a wee bit concerned.
However, it’s hard to envisage this situation dragging out for such a prolonged period. The two parties will meet again in a few weeks and I think this is when we’ll finally see a solution manifest. Federico Cherubini and Juventus can’t afford to lose Dybala on a free next summer, and they’ll be desperate to get the Argentine tied down to a fresh long-term deal as soon as possible following the exit of Ronaldo – even if that desire is yet to become clear.
The disparity between the club’s current offer and what Dybala reportedly wants isn’t massive, and you can expect a compromise to be reached.
It’d be a commercial disaster to suffer the losses of two protagonists in back-to-back summers.