Reports: A positive ending might be in sight for Paulo Dybala extension talks

Paulo Dybala’s contract extension status is very much a “I’ll believe it when I see it” kind of situation. Regardless of how everything looks to be going right now, things have been so drawn out that you don’t want to get too carried away until you see Dybala shaking the hand of Pavel Nedved and/or Federico Cherubini after officially signing on the dotted line.

But, if you are one to believe some of the more reliable Italian reporters out there, that day is getting closer and closer. Extremely slowly and most definitely surely, but they’re getting there.

According to Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti and Fabiana Della Valle of La Gazzetta Dello Sport, more talks from Dybala’s agent Jorge Antun and Juve’s front office have proven to be positive. Agresti and Della Valle say that an agreement for a contract extension through 2025 is getting closer and closer — and, no, you’re not thinking to yourself we’ve heard that before — with another meeting set for either before the end of the weekend or early next week.

Sky Sport Italia reported Friday that the meeting between Antun and Juventus will take place before Sunday’s game against Sampdoria, with the two sides intent on trying to close talks as soon as possible.

Yes, it’s still meeting season even though the transfer window is closed.

Meetings on meetings on meetings. Juventus doesn’t need Sassuolo for meetings to happen, so take that! (It’s hard to believe after the summer Juve just had, but I digress.)

Seeing as this has literally been a contract extension negotiation that has spanned over a year and a half, having some doubts that it might actually happen is certainly a reasonable line of thinking. We’ve been down this road before, we thought it was going to be over once travel restrictions were going to be loosened up a little bit after Italy’s lockdown last summer, but we all know what happened there.

But, as Agresti said in his report late Thursday, “In short, the offer seems to be the right one.” And when it comes to ending the Dybala contract extension talks in relatively short order, that’s what you want to hear. Maybe soon we will get that handshake photo — it certainly has been a while since we’ve been expecting it to be on Juve’s website.