Paulo Dybala has confirmed there were talks with Manchester United and Tottenham over a transfer move to the Premier League although he didn’t want to leave Juve without proving his worth to the club.
Dybala has been an important player in Juventus’ squad over the last five years but had to play second fiddle to Ronaldo at times last campaign after his arrival from Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the majn man in attack in Massimiliano Allegri’s starting lineup, while Dybala was shifted to a role out wide, which reduced his effectiveness in attack.
The Argentine finished the season with just five goals and four assists in 30 matches, leading to question marks over his future with the Seria A giants.
The 26-year-old forward claims Juve deemed him surplus to requirements, but he chose to fight for his place at the club instead of entertaining the advances of Premier League teams United and Spurs.
Dybala told CNN: “It was more or less last year at this point when Juventus didn’t want to count on me, didn’t want me to continue playing here.
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“That’s when I was contacted and there were some clubs that were interested in me. Among those were Manchester United and Tottenham.
“I think for a long time there were conversations, then Paris Saint-Germain also appeared.
“I did not speak directly to any of them, but there were conversations with the clubs. However, my intention at the time was to stay. I hadn’t had a good year or a positive last six months, so I didn’t want to leave with that image because I think I had given the club a lot of nice moments and it wasn’t fair that I went like this.
“So I also communicated that my intention was to stay, work to grow and give my best here. Obviously it was not easy because Juventus’ intentions were different, but after the market closed, there was no more time and with the arrival of [Maurizio] Sarri I grew a lot.
“The team started playing football much better and that made me stay and I’ve had a great year until today.”
However, Dybala has rediscovered his best form in the 2019-20 season under Maurizio Sarri, and has 13 goals and assisted another 12 in 34 games before the campaign was suspended in March due to the coronavirus crisis.
