Fabio Paratici ‘happy’ Paulo Dybala is still a Juventus player

As the days get checked off the calendar and the end of the summer transfer window gets closer and closer, the question of whether Paulo Dybala will stay in Turin or be sold to another club still has no concrete answer to it. But, as the days go by, the perceived likelihood of Dybala being sold becomes smaller and smaller.

At least that’s what it looks like from here.

Then there’s the quotes from Juventus Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici before Saturday’s 1-0 season-opening win over Parma at the Tardini. When asked about Dybala’s future at the club, this is what Paratici had to say:

“Dybala on the bench has nothing to do with the bench. He is a great Number 10 for Juve, we’re happy he is with us.

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“We are happy with the forwards at our disposal, which is envied by everyone on an international level. Everyone can interpret that answer the way they want, but we are very happy with the strikers in our squad. If you put together all their goals in recent years, it’s an extraordinary number. That says it all.

“At this moment, as I’ve already said, we are very happy with the group of strikers at our disposal. It is difficult to improve our squad, we believe we did that over the summer, strengthening those positions we thought needed something. We weren’t lacking quality, but needed to fill some gaps in terms of numbers, for example a defender and a midfielder.

“We have many great strikers, including Gonzalo Higuain, who has returned now.”

In case you didn’t get the impression that Paratici was giving, he’s very happy with the strikers that Juventus currently has on its roster. That, of course, includes Dybala — which didn’t always look like was going to be the case a few weeks ago before moves to both Manchester United and Tottenham broke down within a matter of days.

But, even as Dybala was an unused sub during the win over Parma to open the season, the vibe that Juventus is giving off is that he’s still part of their plans. That might just be the public perception they want to give off, and there’s probably always going to be a little bit of doubt creeping into our heads based on the known fact that a couple of Dybala deals were close to happening earlier this month.

As for now, Dybala is still a Juventus player, and that’s what he wants more than anything else right now.

Dybala’s agent, Jorge Antun, also spoke with the Italian media this weekend, which could be taken as another boost to the No. 10 staying in Turin based on what was said:

“There are no imminent trips to Paris planned. He needs to just enjoy the moment, as we don’t know what could happen in the future.”

(Source: Football Italia)

Take that as you wish. Enjoying the moment is important, yes, but so is Dybala sticking around because Juventus are better with him around as compared to seeing him play somewhere else.