Paulo Dybala comes clean over proposed Man Utd, Tottenham transfer

Paulo Dybala says he never spoke to Manchester United or Tottenham directly, but a move to the Premier League was on the cards last summer.

The Juventus schemer looked ready to move on last season with the Turin side ready to sell the Argentina international after a disappointing spell with the Serie A club.

The 26-year-old had fallen out of favour and was put up for sale, which saw United and Spurs make a concerted move for the attacker, while Dybala says Paris Saint-Germain were also interested in him.

In March, according to Fabrizio Romano in Calciomercato, Dybala’s broker Jorge Antun was in negotiations with the United executive vice chairman Woodward at the club’s London office and was laying out personal terms over his prospective transfer.

However, with an agreement seemingly close, Dybala apparently phoned Antum mid-meeting to instruct him to cancel the talks and to inform him he’d had a change of heart and no longer wanted to leave Juventus.

That now appears far fetched, although Dybala has admitted he was “close to leaving” in an interview with The Guardian last January.

“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,” Dybala told CNN.

“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 Sarri I grew a lot.

“The team started playing football much better and that made me stay and have had a great year until today.”

Dybala has yet to extend his contract with Juve and his current deal expires in 2022.