Transfer Centre

Juventus chief executive: 'No Barcelona bid for Paulo Dybala'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 13 September 2017

Juve chief: 'No Barcelona bid for Dybala'

Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta hopes to see Paulo Dybala remain at the club for the long term, amid strong recent rumours that he is a target for Barcelona.

Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta has confirmed that no bid was received from Barcelona for attacking talent Paulo Dybala during the summer window.

The Argentina international was tipped to make the switch to Camp Nou as a replacement for Neymar, who brought in a £198m windfall when departing for Paris Saint-Germain.

Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu claimed last week that, while he is a big fan of Dybala's, making an offer is not something that his side has considered.

Marotta is now hoping to keep the 23-year-old in Turin for the long term, telling Mediaset Premium: "We did not receive any direct offer from Barcelona for Dybala, but above all we had absolutely no intention of selling him and were certain he'd wear the Juventus jersey.

"We even gave him more responsibility with the number 10, a shirt that holds a great deal of importance in the tradition of Juventus."

Dybala declared ahead of Juventus's 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday evening that he is currently "happy" with life at the club.