Argentine attacker Paulo Dybala is in England to decide on his next club with both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United interested in his services.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spent months talking about the need to invest in up and coming talent, which he has done in the form of Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka already this window, and Dybala loosely fits that mould. Although the Juve forward, who can play both centrally and out wide, is 25 years old with near on 300 appearances to his name he certainly still has some untapped potential to unlock.
The other bonus to a deal for the Red Devils is that it could plausibly see Romelu Lukaku, who was tipped to join Inter Milan, move in the opposite direction thus reducing the financial outlay involved.
For Tottenham the signing of Dybala would be more of a signal of their pulling power than anything else. Despite regular top four finishes and a style that is easy on the eye under Mauricio Pochettino Spurs are still seen as an inferior club to the likes of United.
The London based side failed to add to their squad in the previous two windows with question marks over their spending power bubbling to the surface given the investment – and subsequent delays – with their new stadium but Chairman Daniel Levy has opened his chequebook already this summer with Tanguy Ndombele arriving from Lyon and the fact Dybala is on the radar indicates they’re far from finished.
Solskjaer will be able to offer Dybala a more lucrative contract, the option to be part of a significant rebuild and to be the jewel in the crown as he will unquestionably be United’s star summer signing. However, Spurs can offer him something Manchester United can’t – Champions League football and Poch, who like Dybala represented Argentina at international level.
They will also hope the new stadium is a swaying factor; the ground has a host of features including a microbrewery, Michelin star restaurant, Europe’s longest bar and it will be holding a range of concerts. Besides, a double header between NFL playoff favorites in the upcoming campaign in October.
It remains to be seen just how much things like new stadiums and facilities actually play in the mind set of potential new players, but we could be about to find out.Dybala has impressive statistics behind him having scored 78 goals and assisted a further 30 in 182 appearances for Juventusbut he only managed 10 in 42 last season as a new star man, ex-United hero Cristiano Ronaldo, arrived in Turin.
Given where to two clubs are at the moment you would argue that Tottenham offer better footballing prospects. Will Dybala want to step out of Ronaldo’s shadow simply to play in Harry Kane’s? We suspect not.
The only other factor that could play a part in Dybala’s decision is the rumoured late interest of French Champions PSG. In the French capital he would be almost guaranteed domestic silverware – something he’s used to in Italy – and a sizeable pay packet. The strength of Ligue 1 week in, week out could put him off and, once again, he wouldn’t be the leading man with both Kylian Mbappe and (for now) Neymar currently on the books.
All things considered we expect Dybala to form a major part of Solskjaer’s revolution. In doing so he will come under a lot of pressure but if he can lead the revival and take the Red Devilsback to being serious contenders then he will become a legend at the club and put himself into a bracket of players seen as having the potential to scoop a Balon D’Or when Lionel Messi and Ronaldo finally step away from football.
