Paulo Dybala’s new lease of life

“If he’s fit, he always plays – there’s no doubt about it.” Forget about squad rotation, forget about fear. In the era of load management imported from American sports, Gian Piero Gasperini has decided to take a completely different approach. And so here is the revitalised Paulo Dybala, who has dominated the very start of Roma’s season, in top form as we haven’t seen him for years. Long treated as if he were made of crystal—fragile even to the eye—many have forgotten that age has not been so cruel to the star from Laguna Larga, who has yet to turn 33, in a league that confidently welcomes players four or five years his senior.

It was thought he might bid farewell to Rome, which had welcomed him like a king and treated him as such over the years. Dybala’s status as a Giallorossi legend has gone far beyond the cold statistics; it has spread through the city’s streets, celebrated by children who proudly wear the number 21 on their shirts. And after a season that was, objectively speaking, as difficult as the one that ended a few months ago, the doubts raised over the summer seemed legitimate: it was impossible for Roma to envisage renewing his contract at the wages he had been earning up to that point. This has also given rise to a new Dybala, who will have to excel on the pitch to get back to the wages of recent seasons: on top of a fixed base salary of 2.2 million euros, there are substantial bonuses linked to appearances, goals and assists. While some have quipped about this “Dybala on a self-employed basis”, the reality on the pitch is that he has never been in better physical shape: “They used to say he had muscles of silk, but right now he could even play extra time. He’s 32 and at the peak of his technical and physical maturity,” said Gasperini after his three-assist masterclass against Fiorentina. He reiterated the point at length in the press conference ahead of the Torino match: “If a player is fit, he plays; if he needs a rest, then it’s only right that he gets some time off. If he’s fit, are you going to bench him? You can’t predict whether a player will get injured or not – we don’t have a crystal ball: the important thing is to try and make the most of each player’s form and always field the best players.”

A ‘carpe diem’ with a Piedmontese-Argentine twist, then: whilst he’s on the pitch, the shirt (and the ball) goes to Dybala; the rest remains to be seen. With him on the pitch, it’s a different story altogether: the experience he’s built up over the years allows him not only to manage his physical condition but also the pace of the game, slipping into the spaces the opposition defence grants him. He can make an impact both away from goal and in the penalty area; whether it’s an assist or a goal himself doesn’t matter: what’s most impressive is his connection with Donyell Malen, which was already evident last year when they first played together – against the very same Torino they’ll be facing tonight. From that moment on, the Dutchman has almost always had to do everything on his own, unable to rely on Paulo’s talent as he was sidelined by a knee injury for much of the season. Yet on the pitch they find each other, they sense each other’s presence; it seems they always know where the other is without even needing to look. The impression is that a good deal of Roma’s fortunes this season may hinge on Dybala’s physical condition: to perform at the highest level in the Champions League and the league, they will need a ‘Joya’ in the mould of his golden years at Juventus. It would be yet another masterpiece in Gasperini’s career: to bring back to Serie A, finally without the stop-start nature of the season, a dazzling talent such as Dybala.