Juventus must build around Paulo Dybala

At Juventus, Paulo Dybala has gone to hell and again.

The Argentine attacker remains to be in some way simply 26 years previous, however the membership’s No. 10 has tasted nearly each type of failure and success conceivable whereas sporting black and white. From scoring 60-plus objectives in his first three seasons and beginning a Champions League last in June 2017 to being a couple of signatures away from taking part in in England, there’s nothing he hasn’t seen or felt in his tenure with the Bianconeri.

Now with a new contract in the works, he’s apparently staying in Turin for a very long time.

Dybala is Juve’s finest and extra vital participant. He’s nearly the one participant within the membership who’s each indisputably in his prime and likewise embellished with expertise. Maurizio Sarri’s group is a mishmash of older world-class or superb gamers (Cristiano Ronaldo, Giorgio Chiellini, Gonzalo Higuain) and promising starlets who nonetheless have ample room to develop (Rodrigo Bentancur, Matthijs de Ligt, Merih Demiral), although the roster positively skews older.

Dybala is that uncommon mixture of each, and now greater than ever the membership must do no matter it may well to construction its acquisitions, teaching selections, and techniques round La Joya.

A really quick historical past of Paulo Dybala at Juventus

For a second simply take into consideration the madness that Dybala has skilled during the last three seasons.

Within the 2017-18 marketing campaign, Dybala and Higuain had been buzzing. In a season pitted in opposition to one in every of Juve’s most worthy opponents in current reminiscence (Sarri’s searing Napoli aspect), Max Allegri’s group, led by Dybala, scored 86 objectives, 22 of which had been La Joya’s. He scored 26 complete. Though the group stumbled within the Champions League because of an notorious (for us at the very least) referee’s decision, they managed to safe the Scudetto in addition to the Coppa Italia. At that time many people had been collectively interested by some strikes within the midfield and one other very, very threatening Juventus aspect.

Then, out of nowhere, Ronaldo occurred,

Within the 2018-19 season, Dybala’s sport suffered. As all of us witnessed, the chemistry merely didn’t click on between Allegri, Ronaldo, and Dybala — Mad Max couldn’t fairly work out all the weather, and with Higuain jettisoned to Milan and Chelsea, behind CR7’s 28 objectives there have been Dybala and Mario Mandzukic tied with 10 apiece. It was a foul drop-off for Dybala, and it wasn’t simply the numbers. He was annoyed, often not beginning, and all types of out of types.

In the summertime of 2019, within the waning moments of the switch window, Dybala got here oh-so-close to becoming a member of Tottenham Hotspur. However he didn’t.

In 2019-20, Sarri occurred, the group seemed clunky for lengthy stretches as they tried to get used to a completely new model of soccer, and slowly however certainly Dybala rediscovered his kind. It wouldn’t fairly be exact to name it a “resurrection” beneath Sarri, as there have nonetheless been hiccups alongside the best way, however Dybala is wanting increasingly just like the participant so many people imagine he will be.

Warning: this isn’t a risk-free endeavor

Right here, although, is the persistently tough query that has by no means actually been answered about Dybala, and it’s kind of a two-part query:

1. The place on the pitch do you play him? What formation do you utilize? What freedoms do you give him? What sort of position do you give him?
2. If Fabio Paratici had been to assemble a group round Dybala, what would that appear like? What sort of gamers with what sort of qualities would he be searching for?

We’ve principally seen Dybala in some kind of free-floating proper wing position, however we’ve sometimes seen him as a false 9, we’ve seen him as a second striker, and we’ve seen him as a considerably extra conventional No. 10.

Wherever he finally ends up taking part in, we do know that he brings loads to the desk. He’s inventive but in addition has an absolute cannon of a left foot. He can carry the ball and zigzag by gamers but in addition pick a pinpoint move. There aren’t sufficient superlatives, however I additionally stay flummoxed on what the most effective strategy is to proceed to let Dybala do stuff like this:

The time has come for the membership to like Dybala again

For some insane motive, regardless of the difficulties, regardless of unusual moments of not seeing a lot of the pitch, and regardless of being periodically thrown round as a doable switch, Paulo Dybala appears to actually and really love Juventus. It’s type of superb, frankly. And I feel it’s time for the membership to like him again, really and deeply — not simply by giving him a brand new contract with a wholesome elevate, however by giving him (quickly sufficient) the captain’s armband and the captain’s accountability, by buying gamers who’re suited to deliver out the most effective within the little Argentine.

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t the man for Juventus. He arguably by no means was. It’s time for everybody in Turin to comprehend who’s.