Report: Paulo Dybala’s Inter Milan move in doubt after contract talks halted

After his international responsibilities for Argentina — most notably scoring the final goal in the Finalissima win over Italy on the first day of June — Paulo Dybala headed to Miami to enjoy some sunshine on the beach with his significant other.

I’m guessing things currently don’t look as sunny as they used to regardless of what South Florida beach Dybala is going to be posted up at.

According to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio on Wednesday night, Inter Milan have hit the pause button on talks with Dybala and his agent Jorge Antun, with the immediate future suddenly looking completely uncertain just when it appeared that Dybala was a virtual lock to be heading toward the San Siro. That could still be the case, with Serie A champions AC Milan being thrown out there as a possible landing spot for Juventus’ former No. 10, but that would likely mean Dybala would have to take even more of a paycut than he already is if things actually do get figured out with Inter before it’s too late.

Di Marzio adds that Dybala also has an offer on the table from Sevilla, one that would pay him ... drum roll, please ... €3 million a season.

This is the latest in a series of events over the last six or eight months in which Dybala’s hunt for a new contract has gone, well, not very well. We are all aware of the breakdown in talks that happened between Juventus’ front office and the Dybala camp, with essentially a wink-wink, nod-nod agreement on a new deal suddenly being taken off the table. That paved the way for Juventus to call off talks entirely, citing the Dusan Vlahovic signing as the turning point in which the club reevaluated what kind of direction they wanted to go and who the centerpiece of the project going forward would be.

Inter always appeared to be the top option because the guy who now runs the show, Beppe Marotta, is the same one who was in charge at Juventus when Dybala arrived from Palermo in the summer of 2015. Talks were progressing rather nicely before Inter opened the door for Romelu Lukaku to make his unexpected return to the club this summer. But even then, reports suggested that Inter wanted both Lukaku and Dybala, with some creativity maybe needing to happen to ensure that they could make things work payroll-wise.

As the Lukaku deal has reached its final stages, the same can’t be said about Dybala.

And now, because of it, there’s some very uncertain times — at least that’s what Di Marzio believes based on what he’s heard from his source(s) — for Dybala and Antun as their No. 1 option this summer is suddenly hitting the pause button on negotiations.

Surely something like this rather important development won’t have a few snarky remarks being thrown in the direction of the Dybala camp.

... ah, right. I guess we should have expected that. It’s just been one of those periods of time in which things have not exactly been all that well executed by Dybala, his agent and those who have even the slightest bit of influence with him. In a summer in which he could get the last big contract of his career, suddenly that big pay day is a giant question mark.