Why is Paulo Dybala leaving Roma? It’s a question with more facets than one might see. The first is in the pharaonic contract that Al-Qadsiah has put on the table. About 25 million a year for three seasons, a total of 75 that no one in European football could have ever put on the table. If he had wanted to, of course.
“It’s hard for me to see myself outside of Italy, because I grew up here and became a man. Italy has given me everything. It would be hard to leave it, but of course one is always curious and has the desire to play in leagues like La Liga, the Premier League, where there are great teams and great players.” These were Dybala’s words a few months ago. The reality is that in a meeting with De Rossi some time ago, the former Palermo player had opened up to the possibility of leaving. In short, if a club playing in the Champions League had arrived, he would have wanted to seize the opportunity on the fly, one year before the expiration of his contract.
So why has no club come forward? Because the 13 million termination clause, in a market where Nico Gonzalez costs almost 40, could be tempting for everyone. Dybala’s salary is a little less. The first year he received 3.8 million plus bonuses, almost touching 6. The problem is that in the three seasons of the contract, Dybala started from the fixed amount earned the previous year, while the bonuses remained the same. So the second year his salary was almost 6 million, plus bonuses to get above 8. And from this figure the calculation would have started again, with another 2 million achievable this season which would have brought everything, realistically, to 10 million net for this year.
And here is the real reason, even if it needs to be contextualized. Because Abraham earns 6 net per year and has no offers, just as Smalling gets around 4. The ones sacrificed would have been them, but the conditional depends on the offers. So to raise money you could focus on Bove and Cristante, but then you have to get good offers to sell them. Dybala was an almost obligatory move to have room to maneuver for economic reasons. Also because otherwise it would never have been understood to accept 6 million plus bonuses, a pittance, to let him go.