A story almost 10 years long. Started in May 2015 and it went on with caresses, hugs, jokes, phone calls and meetings. Beppe Marotta is in love with Paulo Dybala in football. It was one of his most important shots at the Juventus and since he became manager ofInter There wasn’t a transfer session in which Joya wasn’t talked about for the Nerazzurri. Indeed, Dybala was even one step away from Inter in the summer of 2022, but in the end Steven Zhang vetoed the Dybala-Lukaku double arrival.
Dybala-Marotta, all the stages
But let’s take a step back. It all started nine years ago, when Dybala, returning from his third season at Palermo with 13 goals in 34 games at the age of 22, was the prized cornerstone of the Serie A transfer market. Everyone wanted him, and it was Juventus who prevailed for 32 million euros plus bonuses: “It was all done thanks to the friendship with Zamparini – said Marotta -. MI called him and said: ‘Look, come quickly to Milan because Thohir has come and we are closing with Inter’. I left Turin in a hurry and we finalized the negotiation“. And even the Galliani-Berlusconi duo was taken aback. After the years together at Juventus, Marotta’s move to Inter in December 2018. In February 2019, after a joke from Paratici about Mauro Icardi, the Nerazzurri CEO replied to the his former director: “Out of place phrases – said Marotta -. If he says he will see Icardi in June, I can say the same for Dybala“. Exchange, it was later learned, on which the two clubs had worked without however reaching an agreement. On 30 May 2022, a few weeks later Juventus’ announcement that they do not want to renew Dybala’s contractMarotta declared: “In sport, what are called “white lies” must be accepted, but obviously the hope is that Paulo can play with us“. A week earlier at Villa Bellini near Varese, a meeting had taken place between Marotta and the Argentinian’s entourage, which was then repeated on 8 June at the headquarters with the visit of agent Jorge Antun. Everything seemed done, but , as mentioned, Zhang’s stop came. All finished? Of course not. May 14, 2023: “A Dybala binds me to a bond of affection, I don’t know if our paths will cross again…“. And in fact in July 2023, after Lukaku’s “betrayal”, Marotta made a phone call to Dybala to understand how he was at Roma. Will the call come again?
