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Should Arsenal Pursue Paulo Dybala, Drama And All?
By Josh Sippie
One of the hottest transfer rumors of the summer for Arsenal was the link to Paulo Dybala. The then Palermo striker was a highly-touted prospect that eccentric club president Maurizio Zamparini pegged to one-up Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
How’s that for pressure?
But after much ado and a lot of over-the-top figures thrown around, Paulo Dybala stayed in Italy. Juventus, the Serie A champions for the last four seasons, held more prestige than Arsenal or Manchester United could offer. The fee of £23 million was right about at where it had been rumored.
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Here we are, eight matches into the season, and that aforementioned eccentric president of Palermo is bashing Juventus for ruining Paulo Dybala.
“I’m really annoyed with Allegri because he’s ruining a champion,” Zamparini said, via ESPN FC. But wait, there’s more. “I’ve written to Paulo telling him to ask Juve to send him elsewhere. I’ve told him to make friends with the veterans, who I think are jealous of him. Allegri is destroying the work that [Antonio] Conte did.”
Paulo Dybala has scored four goals and added an assist in ten appearances for Juventus. Not a bad showing for a 21 year old.
But the bigger issue here is not Paulo Dybala’s performances. The bigger issue is the Palermo club president who is trying to live vicariously through the youngster. Dybala has only made 10 appearances and Zamparini is already urging him to leave? This is Juventus. The greatest team in the history of Italian Football. By far. 31-time champions. That is not a team that you make a pit stop at and bounce because they are struggling.
Juventus sit 14th in the league but are far from eliminated from contention. Although Zamparini’s Palermo is exceeding expectations in 11th, come season end, the Turin side will have righted the ship.
The other bit of this that is overly annoying is Zamaprini saying that the veteran players at the club are jealous of Dybala. The Argentine is a special talent. We all know this. But this is all a tad bit excessive. I do not think Gianluigi Buffon looks at Dybala and froths with jealousy.
All of this leads to the big question. If Dybala takes the president of his fan clubs advice and seeks to move, should Arsenal reignite their interest?
Arsenal FC
No.
The price on Dybala is not going to drop. It will probably stay the same, or maybe even rise. Arsenal can use another striking option but there are plenty of other options out there other than Paulo Dybala, who brings with him a a lot of luggage, particularly a suitcase conspicuously shaped like Maurizio Zamparini.
If Dybala was at Arsenal, there would come times when he was not allowed to run off and do his own thing. Not even Alexis Sanchez has that luxury. That would lead to a lot of unnecessary and unwelcome advice from Zamparini in the ear of our would-be striker.
Arsenal do not need that.
If a young striker is the objective, Arsenal would be better off looking at Breel Embolo or Arkadiusz Milik. Both are as young or younger and have already established a name for themselves without the help of a horn-tooting former club president.
Arsene Wenger does not do well with egos. At least not with other people’s egos (see what I did there?). Dybala has made no indication that he has an ego, so it is unfair to harp on him for his mistakes when he does not go chirping to the media about how he is the next Cristiano Messi. But if a rampant ego like Zamparini is constantly patting your backside, telling you that you’re the next greatest thing in the world, it would take a massive willpower not to give in to it eventually.
Next: 10 Worst Transfers Under Arsene Wenger