Paulo Dybala reveals how close he came to leaving Juventus for Manchester United or Tottenham
‘Some clubs were interested in me. Among those were Manchester United and Tottenham’
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Paulo Dybala has confirmed that Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain were all interested in signing him from Juventus last summer.
Dybala, 26, fell out of favour last season and was made available for transfer by the reigning Serie A champions.
United and Spurs quickly expressed an interest and battled it out to sign him on transfer deadline day, only for Dybala’s labyrinthine image rights situation to prevent a move from taking place.
“It was more or less last year at this point when Juventus didn’t want to count on me, didn’t want me to continue playing here,” Dybala told CNN.
“That’s when I was contacted and there were some clubs that were interested in me. Among those were Manchester United and Tottenham. I think for a long time there were conversations, then Paris Saint-Germain also appeared.
“I did not speak directly to any of them, but there were conversations with the clubs. However, my intention at the time was to stay.
“I hadn’t had a good year or a positive last six months, so I didn’t want to leave with that image because I think I had given the club a lot of nice moments and it wasn’t fair that I went like this.
“So I also communicated that my intention was to stay, work to grow and give my best here. Obviously it was not easy because Juventus’ intentions were different, but after the market closed, there was no more time and with the arrival of Sarri I grew a lot.
“The team started playing football much better and that made me stay and have had a great year until today.”
Dybala’s current Juventus contract expires in the summer of 2022. He is yet to be offered a new deal.
For the full story on how close Dybala came to leaving Juventus, click here.
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