Pavel Nedved confirms Paulo Dybala contract talks, says Cristiano Ronaldo ‘will stay with us’

The waiting game might finally be over on multiple fronts when it comes to two of Juventus’ most important and highest-paid players.

In an interview with Sky Italia after Juventus’ 3-1 friendly win over Cesena at Juventus Training Center Saturday, vice president Pavel Nedved addressed two of the most pressing question marks surrounding the club. Nedved confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo will be back at training on Monday following his post-Euro 2020 vacation, while also confirming that Paulo Dybala’s agent will also be in Turin next week to restart contract talks that have been paused for months on months on months.

Both updates come after weeks of rumors regarding Ronaldo’s status and speculation that Max Allegri’s arrival will be the thing that gets Dybala contract talks back up off the mat following months of no communication between the two sides.

Ronaldo’s status has been up in the air ever since Portugal was eliminated from Euro 2020 in the round of 16. It was always going to be a case of Ronaldo deciding his next move following the Euros, and with a limited number of clubs that he could possibly go to it was always going to be tough to see him move to a Paris Saint-Germain or elsewhere. With one year left on his current deal, it remains to be seen if Ronaldo will extend for another season or see out his contract and go elsewhere when it expires come the summer of 2022.

This, also, isn’t the first time that Nedved has been firm in the belief that Ronaldo is going to stay at Juventus for the 2021-22 season, saying back in May that the Portuguese superstar hadn’t given the club any indication that he wants to leave.

For Dybala, whose current contract also expires next summer, having contract extension talks start back up seem to be a direct result of who Juventus hired as its new manager. Who knows if this happens under another manager, or if Dybala is even still a part of Juventus’ roster, for that matter. We heard reports earlier in the week that Dybala’s agent, Jorge Antun, was going to be in Turin at some point next week — which obviously set the stage for Nedved’s comments to serve as a refreshing confirmation.

Juventus are believed to have last offered Dybala an annual salary of €10 million. Dybala is currently one of Juve’s highest earners at around €7.5 million per season, trailing just Ronaldo and Matthijs de Ligt.