Juventus put pressure on disheartened Paulo Dybala by telling him to stay away until Monday

Paulo Dybala

The Italian champions have agreed a potential swap deal that would see the Argentina international move to Old Trafford and Romelu Lukaku head in the other direction.

However, the final decision lies with Dybala, who returned to Turin for pre-season on Thursday.

Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the forward has been forced to remain on holiday until August 5, the date he was originally due back after his Copa America exertions earlier in the summer.

The 25-year-old headed straight home after his arrival yesterday and spent the day in his city centre flat, rather than going to the club’s training ground.

A meeting with coach Maurizio Sarri or sporting director Fabio Paratici was expected to take place, but the newspaper believes that it is unlikely Dybala will meet them or train today, although some contact could be made.

Dybala wanted to return to Italy early to meet Sarri, and is said to be disheartened by the developments that have thrown his Juventus future into doubt.

The next few days are expected to be decisive for the deal, with Dybala’s representative Jorge Antun postponing his return to Buenos Aires in order to remain on call in London, where he has held talks with United officials.

A deal will depend on Dybala’s agreement and Juventus are putting pressure on him to accept the move with the Premier League market due to close on Thursday, August 8.

A further complication is the Argentine’s contract in Manchester: the Red Devils don’t want to give him more than €8.5 million per season, but the former Palermo star is demanding €10 million plus add-ons.

Dybala has also been put off by the risk of a 25% wage cut if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side fail to reach the Champions League next season, especially given that he would already be making the sacrifice of dropping into the Europa League for a year.

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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.