Reports: Paulo Dybala aiming to return to the field for April’s Derby della Mole

Paulo Dybala being out of action for going on over two months was never supposed to be part of the plan when he was originally diagnosed with a knee injury all of a handful of days into January. But the time he missed has dragged on, and the possibility of Dybala contributing in Juventus’ biggest games of the season has essentially come and gone barring any kind of late-season title run.

So when will Dybala actually be back, you ask?

We might finally get an answer.

According to reports from Sky Sport Italia (via Football Italia) and La Stampa (via VecchiaSignora.com) on Thursday, Juventus — as well as Dybala himself — are hoping to have their talented No. 10 back in the fold after the upcoming international break. That would mean Dybala’s potential return would be Easter weekend, with Juventus’ second Derby della Mole of the season against city rival Torino, a fixture scheduled for Saturday, April 3, before everybody gets Sunday off as is the norm in Serie A and across Italy.

And if that’s indeed the case, then it will be nearly three months between appearances for Dybala, who has only played in all of 861 minutes between Serie A and the Champions League this season.

So if this is the case and Dybala — who has been appearing in a few social media posts over the last few days as he continues his work in the gym — does come back the first weekend of April, it will be interesting to see just how much he will actually be able to contribute. Juventus won’t be playing three games in seven or eight days like they have been for much of the season. The need to rotate the squad won’t be as much of a priority as it has been from basically November through February when the schedule crunch was absolutely insane.

Who knows what kind of form Dybala will be in when he does eventually come back whenever that actually is. It took him weeks to even begin to show signs of snapping out of his funk as a result of his preseason struggles and subsequent illness that lingered into the early weeks of the 2020-21 season. And right when it looked like things were starting to click a little bit, he goes and gets hurt again — which is where we find ourselves now, nearly 2 ¹⁄₂ months after the fact.

It’s hard to say how much bearing these next two months have on Dybala’s future at the club. But just getting him back on the field is the thing that should matter the most right now. That’s the biggest thing at the moment that involves Dybala. You get him back on the field and try to have him salvage something out of this lost season of his.