Andrea Pirlo has named both Paulo Dybala and Arthur as players who need to work on their fitness.
Both players started in the Champions League group fixture against Ferencvaros last night, although neither completed the full 90 minutes, and the manager claims that neither has been in perfect condition.
Pirlo claims that while Arthur’s fitness is ‘improving’, his performance last night wasn’t what was asked of him, while Dybala is in need to of time to get back to his best after his long absences at the start of the campaign.
“Arthur tried to carry the ball forward too much today when we should have been trying to use the flanks more but he’s improving, from a fitness perspective too,” Pirlo said after the match (via Juventus’ official site).
“[Paulo] Dybala is another player who’s improving. He’s coming off a spell when he wasn’t playing and it takes a while to get back into your stride.”
The Argentine star has been given eight appearances thus far, including only four starts, but remains a key part of the manager’s plans.
Luckily for us, we have both Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata in red-hot form this season, and can afford to allow Dybala time to build up his fitness, while Arthur has the likes of Weston McKennie, Adrien Rabiot and Bentancur for competition.
Did the duo look like they were missing something last night? Will Dybala be a guaranteed starter when fully-fit?
Patrick