Italian papers suggest Barcelona are offering €120m for Paulo Dybala as their search for a replacement for Neymar begins, but Juventus aren’t selling.

It was almost inevitable that we’d get this kind of headline just a day after Neymar signed for Paris Saint-Germain, especially with Catalan papers like Mundo Deportivo polling their readers to find out who they wanted most as a replacement for the Brazilian. Of course, the polls were unanimous: Paulo Dybala topped every one.

The reports in the Catalan press go so far as to say that Lionel Messi is pushing the club to sign Dybala, a player many see as his long-term heir at the Blaugrana.

The morning’s papers inevitable led with wild stories and fantastical figures: Gazzetta dello Sport reported that there was an offer of €120m for Dybala or a player plus cash deal which wpuld include the likes of Andres Gomes and Rafinha. The Corriere dello Sport report a more interesting story of Barca offering €120m as a lump sum or €90m and the services of Andres Iniesta.

Despite the reports, Gazzetta also quote an unnamed source stating: “We’re not selling [Dybala], not even for all the gold in the Bank of Italy.” Encouraging.

With the departure of Leonardo Bonucci and the rumours of a bust-up with Dybala and Bonucci at half-time during the Champions League final, perhaps the club are backing the Mister and La Joya in this instance. As speculative as that sounds, everything points to Dybala remaining at the club for at least another season, if not longer.

Paulito has spoken in the past of wanting to become a ‘Bandiera’ for the club, much like Alessandro Del Piero, and while that seems a stretch, the player has said on numerous occasions this summer that he is happy in Turin. Beppe Marotta, for his part, has always been vocal about Dybala staying at the club, talking about “the intention is to go on a long journey together [with Dybala].”

For now I think we can rest assured that this late into the summer, with the new season only two weeks away, Dybala will remain in Turin.