All signs are pointing toward Paulo Dybala signing with Inter

There are reasons as to why the Italian press has tipped Inter Milan being Paulo Dybala’s landing spot for months now, and they were popping up well before we knew Juventus’ Argentine striker was going to be leaving the club on a free transfer this summer.

Now, months after those rumors started, the chatter looks to be becoming a reality.

Reports in Italy on Wednesday have all pointed to one thing — Dybala to Inter is happening, with the two sides meeting for the first time in an official capacity. The result of the meeting, as the reporting goes, was that Inter put forward their first official contract offer for Dybala’s camp to consider — a four-year deal that would run through 2026 and pay Juve’s former No. 10 around €5.5 million or €6 million a season plus bonuses. As Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio says, “The demand from the player’s entourage is higher but not by much,” with said demands reportedly around €8 million a season.

While there are still details to iron out and a salary to actually agree upon, the feelings coming out of Wednesday’s meeting were reportedly positive and signing with Inter remains as Dybala’s priority, according to Fabrizio Romano on Wednesday.

Basically, this is the kind of development a lot of us have been expecting for months.

And, because of that, the news that broke Wednesday that Dybala’s agent, Jorge Antun, and Inter’s management team had met for the first time in Milan was ... not much of a surprise.

Like, as a text from a buddy of mine said, “I ain’t even mad.”

It is those Wednesday meeting reports that has caused Tuttosport to splash the headline “DYBALA INTER É FATTA” across its front page on Thursday morning. While there are still details to hammer out, the Italian press has definitely reached the point in its reporting of the Dybala free agency watch that it’s starting to declare the the deal is essentially done. Sportmediaset is basically saying it’s “a countdown to the signing” for Inter and Dybala, who is currently vacationing in Miami after his national team duty came to a close for the summer.

So as much as there were rumors of Roma potentially going after Dybala or that old friend(s?) Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte might be tempted to lure him to London to sign with Tottenham, Inter was always the clear-cut No. 1 destination for La Joya to go. This is the deal that Beppe Marotta, another old friend of ours, has been pushing to close for months, and now with Juventus totally out of the picture there’s very much a direct route to bring a player he brought to Turin now to the San Siro.

It certainly looks like Dybala will be wearing stripes on his jersey and calling Italy home once again. They will just be a different color of stripes for the first time in seven years.