Federico Cherubini has confirmed that Juventus will enter into contract talks with Paulo Dybala as well as other members of the first-team squad in the ‘coming days’.

The Argentine is into the final months of his current deal, but he appears to favour staying on with the club. So far we appear to be playing hard-ball, and seem willing to allow him to run his contract down, an action that will not be taken lightly by the fans.

Losing Dybala wouldn’t just weaken the overall ability of the playing squad, but we would be losing one of our favourites, one who wears his heart on his sleeve and breathes passion into the side, and I doubt there is a single Bianconeri who would be happy should he leave, even worse should he leave for nothing.

Fans may be relieved to know that they are scheduled to talk to Dybala again to try and sort out this contract debacle, as well as entering into negotiations with other players also, with Juan Cuadrado also expected to be in line to extend his stay.

“Well I’d say good, it’s always a very heartfelt match, especially for one more recent reason. Without Zakaria and Vlahovic I probably wouldn’t have been here! Joking aside, a great effort was made by the club to get them.”

He gave his thoughts on the Bianconeri’s Scudetto ambitions this season.

“The coach says he doesn’t believe in it, but Juventus must always do it.”

The Juventus sporting director provided an update on the Dybala situation.

“In the next few days we’ll be meeting not only Paulo but also other players in the squad who have expiring contracts.”

I don’t think I’m alone in being sceptical that a deal will get over the line the next time the parties meet, with both seeming to be playing hard-ball previously, although the player himself was believed to have agreed a deal in principal before Christmas.

I just hope our passionate star can get back to concentrating on his football instead of worrying about where he will be playing next season.

Patrick