You could make one hell of a team out of the players who slipped through Arsene Wenger’s grasp.
But while the ship has very much sailed on Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and N’Golo Kante, the Gunners might not have expected to find themselves in a position where a deal to bring Paulo Dybala to North London looks very much on the cards.
“It was a friendly, clear and respectful meeting,” Juventus’ CEO Maurizio Arrivabene said on Monday afternoon, via The Mail.
“With the arrival of (Dusan) Vlahovic, Paulo was no longer at the centre of our project and we made this decision.
“The technical structure of the team and the Juventus project has undergone some changes. Part of these changes concern Dybala’s contract, which has not been renewed.”
Back in 2017, Juve legend David Trezeguet tipped the Argentine attacker to win the Ballon D’Or at the Allianz Stadium, after Dybala announced himself on the Champions League stage with a mesmerising, two-goal performance in a 3-0 thumping of Barcelona (Goal).
Few would have predicted that very same player would be leaving Juventus on a free transfer five years later, without a Ballon D’Or to his name and having been replaced by a younger model in Serbian sensation Vlahovic.
Could Paulo Dybala join Arsenal at last?
According to 90Min, Dybala has already held talks with Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and a Tottenham Hotspur side who came within a whisker of securing his sought-after signature back in 2019.
Liverpool have been linked too.
So too Arsenal.
And what a twist this would be. A player even the most optimistic Arsenal supporter would have assumed had slipped beyond their grasp, arriving at the Emirates on a free, eight years after the London giants missed out on the chance to sign him from Palermo for £31 million (Express).
“To know that someone like that (Arsene Wenger) thinks highly of me fills me with pride,” a baby-faced Dybala said at the time
“I can’t deny that going to Arsenal and playing in the Premier League would be great. But at the moment I’m a Palermo player.”
Six months later, he’d become a Juventus one. And as Dybala threatened to become a world-beater in Turin, the heir apparent to the great Lionel Messi, no one would have imagined we’d see the day where Dybala is joining Arsenal at last.
Eight years on, that day might actually be approaching.
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