When we entered the summer transfer window, one detail was made very clear at Manchester United: the club intended to bring in players who wanted to play at Old Trafford.
Both Dan James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka fit that criteria, and reports suggest both Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes do too.
Paulo Dybala, on the other hand, clearly does not, and that’s becoming more and more of an issue as the days pass by and the transfer window deadline draws closer.
Returning to Italy after a series of long flights on Thursday, the player postponed his meeting with those in charge at Juventus, feeling the need to both think and rest before doing so.
That doesn’t mean some contact didn’t take place, and Gazzetta dello Sport explain Dybala and Fabio Paratici had a chat, although it ‘wasn’t enough to resolve the doubts’ of the player and ‘bring him closer to Manchester United’.
Furthermore, the newspaper do not expect a meeting to take place between the Argentina international and Juventus on Friday either, as he isn’t expected to return to training until August 5th.
Yes, he did return early, but that was to ‘get to know Maurizio Sarri’, and since plans have changed and his club don’t want him, he has ‘decided to take advantage of the planned leave days’.
This isn’t exactly bad news for United, as it’s a sign that ‘his future still hangs in the balance’ and the next few days will be ‘decisive’.
Dybala is described as being ‘very embittered’ about the whole situation, knowing that Juventus are putting pressure on him to leave as they have until August 8th to get a deal sorted.
In the meantime, the man in charge of negotiations on the player’s behalf, Jorge Antun (not an official agent), remains in London and has postponed his return to Buenos Aires.
As things stand, ‘the continuation of the negotiations depend on Dybala’s choice’ as Ed Woodward ‘doesn’t want to exceed the €8.5/year (net) threshold’, while the Argentine and his entourage started with a figure of €10m + a few extras.
There is also the Champions League question mark, as Gazzetta claim ‘only Paul Pogba seems to be excluded from the 25% cut in wages in the event of non-qualification’ and the Juventus star’s entourage ‘would not want to take the risk’ of being like the other players in the squad, especially ‘considering he would already be giving up on the competition next season’.
With ‘little time and many doubts in mind’, there is a fear ‘everything is likely to get complicated quickly’.
This is why Fabio Paratici is thinking of ‘returning to London immediately to close an agreement’ that Manchester United and Romelu Lukaku have already agreed to.
Over at Corriere dello Sport, it’s much of the same, and it’s said the idea of a possible move to Inter by swapping him for Mauro Icardi from yesterday (which they made a big deal out of on Thursday) ‘hasn’t quite taken off yet’.
It’s stated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has let Dybala know he ‘cannot wait’ to manage him and is ‘waiting for him’ over in England.
The player ‘knows that he cannot go against his team’s will as doing so would put him in an uncomfortable position’.
His only alternative would be to hope for a Neymar sale at Paris Saint-Germain, but since that doesn’t appear to be happening just yet, he currently has only one option in front of him: a move to Old Trafford.
This, much like Harry Maguire, could very go down to the wire, which is exactly what Manchester United said they wanted to avoid when the transfer window started.
Unfortunately, we all know plans rarely go the way we want them to.
