Reports: Paulo Dybala to leave Juventus as contract talks collapse one last time

After months — likely a couple of years — of trying to get a new contract done, Paulo Dybala and his agent have finally reached the end of the road.

Dybala’s agent, Jorge Antun and Juventus’ management team met one last time Monday with the potential goal of trying to salvage something after months of being unable to reach some sort new agreement on a contract extension for the Argentine No. 10. According to multiple reports out of Italy, those talks resulted in a decision that will Dybala leave Juventus at the end of the season when his contract expires. There will be no new contract, with the man who has wore the most famous number in Juve history for the better part of the last decade heading out the door on a free transfer.

Dybala, who joined Juventus from Palermo in the summer of 2015, is expected to soon begin talking with other clubs as he prepares to begin a new adventure this summer.

This comes under the context of Juventus pulling their contract extension offer after the two sides had agreed to a new deal worth as much as €10 million through 2026 (€8 million guaranteed with €2 million in bonuses). As Juve CEO Maurizio Arrivabene said last week, Juventus decided to re-evaluate things and re-start contract talks with Dybala and Antun — a step in the process that will go down as the beginning of the end between the parties.

When asked about Dybala’s contract extension after Sunday’s win over Salernitana, Juventus manager Max Allegri was not sure if the 28-year-old Argentine was going to stay at the club past the end of the season.

Dybala, who was on the scoresheet in Sunday’s win, has clearly grown frustrated with the club ever since the handshake agreement on his new deal was pulled back earlier this season. We all know about the time he sent an ice cold glance toward the Juventus front office in the stands after scoring against Udinese right before the holiday break, the first time in which his frustration with the club had been put out into the open. Contract talks were again a point of contention as the new year started, only to have them either result in nothing concrete or, as a result of the deal from October being taken off the table, a contract with lower wages being offered. As you might expect, Dybala and his agent didn’t like that all that much.

And now we are where we are.

This is maybe a step that many saw coming. But, as it turns out, the standing ovation that Dybala got as he was subbed off Sunday will be one of the last ones he receives as a Juventus player at Allianz Stadium. It didn’t have to be this way, but this is the end result of a whole lot of things that may or may not come out over the next few months.