Paulo Dybala has admitted that he came close to swapping Juventus for Tottenham Hotspur last summer.
The Argentina international had seemingly fallen out of favour at Juve last season and was heavily linked with a move to Spurs.
It was even reported last August that a £64.4m bid from Tottenham had been accepted by Juventus for the 26-year-old (Sky Sports).
However, a move ultimately did not materialise and it was later revealed that it fell through at the last minute due to complications over the Argentine’s image rights (Independent).
Dybala has turned around his fortunes at Juve this season and has been one of Maurizio Sarri’s best attackers this campaign with 13 goals and 12 assists in all competitions (tranfermarkt.com).
The silky left-footer revealed that both Spurs and Manchester United came in for him last summer but he insisted that he was always determined to stay put at Turin.
He did admit however that Juve had other ideas and that he ended up staying only because there was not sufficient time to complete the transfer.
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Speaking to CNN, he said: “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.
“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.
“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.”
Spurs Web Opinion
This transfer could have been a complete game-changer for us and might have even helped Pochettino avoid the sack. However, looking back now after the financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis, Daniel Levy is probably pleased that the transfer did not go through given the transfer fees and wages that would have been involved.
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