Paulo Dybala has revealed that both Tottenham and Manchester United wanted to sign him during last summer’s transfer window.
Despite being one of their key men, Juventus appeared happy to let the Argentine move to the Premier League – but the forward admitted that he never spoke directly to either of them as he wanted to remain in Turin.
Spurs’ interest became apparent during late-July – and there were strong reports on deadline day from highly reliable BBC Sport journalist David Ornstein that the Londoners were close to reaching an agreement to sign the Argentinian international.
Tottenham close to reaching agreement to sign Juventus forward Paulo Dybala. Deal not done but clubs hopeful. #THFC stepped up interest after their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes ended over fee & Man Utd’s proposed move for Dybala was called off #JUVE #MUFC
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) August 8, 2019
However, Ornstein later reported that the deal had collapsed – with the Italian champions not interested in selling one of their most important players.
Dybala, who has two years left on his Juve contract, confirmed the interest from the Premier League, but said that he never wanted to leave the Serie A outfit.
“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,” the Argentine 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.”
