Paulo Dybala has revealed he was approached by Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in last summer’s transfer window.
The Argentina forward’s Juventus career seemed all but over a year ago after he fell out of favour with Maurizio Sarri in Turin.
But Dybala’s desire was always to stay in Italy, despite the hope from many United supporters that he would make an improbable switch to Old Trafford.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was resigned to the fact he was losing goalscorer Romelu Lukaku last summer and many had the transfer theory that the Belgian could be involved in a swap deal with Dybala.
But Lukaku eventually made his way to Juventus’ Serie A rivals Inter Milan and no move ever materialised for Dybala.
“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,” the 26-year-old told CNN.
“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.
“So I also communicated that my intention was to stay, work to grow and give my best here.”
Dybala made the right decision to stay at Juventus, as he has now worked his way back in to Sarri’s first-team plans. The versatile attacker has 13 goals and six assists this term, lining up alongside United great Cristiano Ronaldo.
We never truly believed Dybala would ever make the switch to Old Trafford, despite widespread rumours about the switch causing the inevitable social media meltdown among the fanbase.
But Solskjaer knows United’s attacking options still need bolstering this summer and we hope the Reds can secure the transfer of Borussia Dortmund sensation Jadon Sancho.
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