According to the Sun, Juventus superstar Paulo Dybala has opened up to CNN Sport on the rumours that he was close to joining Manchester United and Tottenham last summer.
The Sun add that both the Premier League outfits reportedly agreed deals with the forward, however Dybala has shut down those rumours by insisting that he never wanted to leave the Turin outfit.
The Argentine superstar admitted that last season wasn’t very ‘positive’ for him, the attacker scored 10 goals in 42 appearances, which wasn’t enough to live up to Dybala’s high standards.
Here’s what Dybala had to say on last summer’s exit rumours:
“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.”
“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.”
The Sun claim that Dybala was seen as a potential replacement by Manchester United for Romelu Lukaku, who ended up joining Inter Milan last summer.
It’s added that a deal wasn’t completed because of Dybala’s massive wage demands, the Sun then report that a £65m move to Tottenham collapsed.
Juventus and Dybala’s decision last summer has paid off for the club, with the centre-forward back to his usual self, scoring 13 times and chipping in with 12 assists so far this season.
Maurizio Sarri’s side are back in action on Friday night with a Coppa Italia clash against AC Milan, the ‘Old Lady’s league campaign is set to return on June 22 as they eye another title.
We’d like to send our best wishes to Dybala, as the Sun report that the star forward tested positive four times in six weeks for the Coronavirus.