Jose Mourinho was reportedly the deciding factor in Paulo Dybala opting to join Roma on a free transfer.
Dybala is set to join Roma on a three-year contract following his departure from Juventus at the end of June. The Argentina international was the subject of strong interest from Inter Milan and Napoli, while Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham were all linked earlier in the summer transfer window.
Sky Sports Italia says that Dybala has now picked Roma and will sign a deal until 2025 worth £5million (€6m) a year with the Serie A club. Fabrizio Romano reports that Mourinho was the ‘key factor’ in the decision, having personally called Dybala to explain the Roma project and pushed Roma director Tiago Pinto to get the deal done.
La Repubblica reported earlier in July that Manchester United had been in touch with Dybala’s agent Jorge Antun to discuss a possible move for the 28-year-old. But it seems that Mourinho has now got one over on his old club, to seal the most significant deal of the summer transfer window so far for Roma.
Dybala contributed 115 goals and 48 assists in 293 appearances over a seven-year spell at Juventus before leaving upon the expiry of his contract. He won five Serie A titles, four Italian Cups and three Italian Super Cups in Turin and was highly sought after.
He is reportedly flying out to Portugal to join up with Roma’s squad, who are in the country for a pre-season tour. His arrival will come as a relief to Mourinho, who has been frustrated by Roma’s sluggish work in the transfer window.
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Dybala will become the fourth signing for Roma this summer, after defender Zeki Çelik, who arrived from Lille, Nemanja Matic, who joined up with Mourinho for a third time on a free transfer from United and goalkeeper Mile Svilar, who arrived from Benfica when his contract expired.
Roma have lost several first team players, including Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alessandro Florenzi, Robin Olsen and Cengiz Under. Meanwhile, there are also reports linking Roma’s Conference League final hero Nicolo Zaniolo with a move to Juventus.
Zaniolo’s proposed move to Juve has been one of the long-running transfer sagas of the summer in Italy. Juve want to sign the 23-year-old, but are reportedly unwilling to pay the £42m (€50m) asking price, so have tried to use Arthur Melo or Denis Zakaria as part of a player exchange to lower the cost.
Roma are not willing to sell for anything under their asking price and have been trying to get Zaniolo to sign a new contract. It remains to be seen whether the youngster stays put, but the arrival of Dybala will strengthen Roma’s attack for next season nevertheless.
He will play alongside Tammy Abraham, who enjoyed a wonderful debut campaign after joining Mourinho’s side from Chelsea for £34m last summer.
Roma will be hoping to build on their successful campaign in which they won their first trophy for 13 years by beating Feyenoord in the Europa Conference League final.
