The Argentine striker has been one of the star players in Turin for the past four years and scored a number of valuable goals that have helped Juventus’ domination of the Serie A. But Dybala has struggled to reach his usual high standards this season alongside a new star in the team in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Juventus last summer. Recently near the end of the season, Juventus’s sporting director confirmed that Dybala will not be moving on this summer despite many rumors suggesting an exit to join one of the other elite clubs in the other European league’s. I guess the question’s moving forward would be: Now what happens? Has Dybala actually regressed? Will Allegri move on? If Allegri goes, will the new manager want Dybala? Will Dybala himself stay if he gets tempted by another club? Will Allegri be able to find a way to get Ronaldo and Dybala functional in the same team? Will Dybala be willing to change his game to suit what Allegri is asking of him or will he continue to struggle alongside Ronaldo as Juventus gear their team towards their star man and away from their once play-maker “golden boy” over the past few seasons? I assess where Dybala has come since joining Juventus and answer a few of these questions in my piece.
When Juventus handed him the #10 jersey from the #21 upon Pogba’s departure; A lot of Juventus fans assumed that he would go on to become their main player for the foreseeable future and the player that Allegri would build his team around. But fast forward a few seasons and a certain Portuguese player turned up in Turin; presenting Juventus with a change of plans and a short term assault on the Champions League. Now Paulo always played as a striker in Palermo with an offensive midfielder behind him. And he was brilliant in that role. But after the first season with Juve, where he started to really shine in the second part of the season, Gonzalo Higuain was brought to Turin and ever since then up until this season Dybala had not disappointed. He has been an instrumental player in a Juve side that has gone on to win their 8th successive Scudetto with Dybala having made the Serie A team of the year in three successful seasons in black and white whilst the fourth this year not going according to plan. This season he will be nowhere near the team of the season, let alone Juventus’s team of the season. In 2017, it took Dybala only 6 games to reach 10 Serie A goals. Scoring a brace en route to eliminating Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League. Fast forward to now, we see a very different Dybala. One who looks devoid of confidence and unsure of where to be on the pitch for Juventus. All was going well until this season when his offensive numbers dropped drastically and theres a massive disparity between Dybala last season and Dybala this season. It feels like a long time ago now, but last season he had 22 goals in 33 appearances with 5 assists to go along with that. This season he has only managed 5 league goals and 6 assists in 28 appearances. Though his champions league numbers have gone up, from scoring one goal last season to scoring 5 this season (3 of them however coming against Young Boy’s in the group stage). On the surface, that looks like a deep struggle at best and a regression at worst. But as often the case in this sport, the numbers really only tell so much. Dybala wasn’t scoring like a fiend this season, but that doesn’t mean he’s been playing poorly the entire time. In fact, there’s a profound evolution going on in his game that’s been really interesting to see. Dybala’s averaging 2.2 per match this season in Serie A, good for second on the team behind Miralem Pjanic’s 2.5. That’s a big increase over last season’s 1.6. After Ronaldo’s arrival, there were a lot of questions about how best to integrate him and Dybala into the team together.
It was expected that Juventus would play with a front three of Ronaldo, Dybala and Douglas Costa, who had finished the previous season strongly. Yet instead, Dybala was left on the bench for three of the first five games. After underwhelming performances, Dybala struggled to cement his place in the team as the season went on, missing out on a starting berth for important matches and often finding himself coming on off the bench. As the season progressed, another Scudetto became a formality for Juventus. All attention turned to the Champions League, with the club looking to end their 23-year wait for Europe’s biggest prize. In the round of 16, Dybala was given the nod to start away at Atlético Madrid. However, he failed to impress as Juventus slumped to a 2-0 defeat, and in the return leg, he was left on the bench, making way for Federico Bernardeschi.
Juventus turned the tie around to move into the quarterfinals where they met Ajax. Again, Dybala was left out of the starting line-up, and when Allegri needed to change the momentum of the game he turned to Douglas Costa, who had been out injured for two months, ahead of the Argentinian forward. Dybala went on to only play 45 minutes of the return leg showing that Allegri no longer trusts the young Argentine. Juventus went on to lose that tie against Ajax. Off-pitch distractions have also played a part. It is not merely a case of Dybala failing to adapt alongside Ronaldo. Dybala has made it clear he is unhappy with current life at Juventus. He was dropped by Allegri for walking straight down the tunnel when he was subbed off, instead of sitting on the bench. In another incident, he was an unused substitute, so headed for the dressing room early. When given the chance, all be it small chances, he hasn’t seized them to the extent that for example someone like Bernardeschi has.
Worryingly for Dybala, he has not had a “big” moment for Juventus all season long. As mentioned earlier in my piece, Dybala has scored just five league goals this season, comfortably his lowest return since joining Juventus. Only one of those has come against a top half club, a penalty against AC Milan recently when Juventus basically already had the title wrapped up. There’s a lot of pressure on him because, having got us used to the extraordinary the past few seasons, he now gets criticized when he plays ordinary. Allegri no longer sees Dybala as a striker. He likes more physical strikers in the form of Mandžukić and Ronaldo; Not traditional strikers maybe, but he’s not a false 9-style of striker fan. Whilst also preferring traditional wingers in the form of Douglas Costa and Bernardeschi. But that’s what Paulo is. Allegri wants Paulo to play in a similar way to Messi: he wants him to go back to midfield, take the ball, dribble a player maybe and then facilitate. He wants him to create offensive chances with passing and brilliant ideas. Paulo sometimes does that, and he has the talent to do that. But he was not born to do that. He’s always been a killer when close to the goal. But with his change of role, he’s distant from the goal and the only chances he has are from long range. That’s not who he is. Dybala should not craft, he should finish the job. Look at the periods he was more efficient:
1st season, 2015–16: Second part of the season, he gets the starting striker role surpassing Morata and with Mandžukić moving to Left Wing. He shines.
2nd season, 2016-17: When Gonzalo started to score less, he was awarded some time as the main striker for Juve. In the famous Barcelona game, he essentially moved to first striker as Higuain was practically inactive in the game.
3rd season, 2017-18: Again, Gonzalo did not start very well last year, and Dybala was free to be once again the man that finishes the job. Scored like 10 goals in 6 or 7 Serie A matches and then got injured.
The Bianconeri boss intends to work on improving his squad after their Champions League quarter-final exit to Ajax, which proves there is still room for improvement in this Juventus team. Some may argue that for Juventus short term pursuit of the Champions League it would be worthwhile to cash in on him and use the funds to upgrade their midfield. And this argument is very valid because in Bernardeschi, Juventus have a player who may not be as prolific but seems more malleable than Dybala. Bernardeschi offers some of what Dybala offers (the ability to “connect the lines,” a creative force, a wicked left foot) but a lot of what the Argentine doesn’t (defensive work rate and skill, an unending motor, physical toughness). Allegri himself has come out and said that “Bernardeschi has become a real Juventus player and one worthy of the big games in a short period of time. He has grown so much in his maturity and technique.” The situation between Paulo Dybala and Juventus has gotten quite complicated and will need reevaluating this summer.
As great as Dybala has been in his first 3 season in Turin, he has remained a positional problem for a very long time under Allegri. Players like Paulo Dybala don’t really appear in football that often, Juventus really hit the jackpot with the Argentine but it appears that the relationship between him and the club has drastically taken a step in the wrong direction this season and tested the clubs patience with him. People will say that Dybala could’ve turned out different under any coach, but there’s obviously no way of proving or disproving that. Paulo Dybala has reached a point in his career where he has to make a decision, this might be the biggest choice he will ever have to make.
His first three years at Juventus showed the talent he possesses, and one sub-par season should not mean we automatically write off Dybala. At 25 years of age and seemingly coming into his peak years, Dybala will hope to return to form soon to remind everyone just how good he can be. But next season will be definitive for his career and probably his Juventus career as well if Allegri decides to stick by him and give him a chance to find himself again. However, with Ronaldo taking the limelight he will have to find himself another role in this Juventus side. Dybala’s emergence as a play-maker up front would have to be fast tracked. If he can link the attack with the midfield as he did in a previous season and create the kind of scoring opportunities that they can feast on, Juventus’s already-impressive attack becomes exponentially more dangerous regardless of whether or not he’s banging in a bunch of goals himself. Dybala might not even see much time near the goal, where he is deadly and much more effective. And so, he will have to work harder to be the player everyone expects him to be; especially the player Max Allegri wants him to be. Much like players like James Rodriguez and Isco, he will have to force his way into Allegri’s plans through adaptation. I could be wrong, but in my opinion, it would be a very short-sighted move, for Juventus to lose Dybala in the pursuit of maximizing Ronaldo whilst they chase the Champions League.
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