Paulo Dybala : Success, Failure and the Weight of Expectation

There is something strange about the legacy of Paulo Dybala.

Nicknamed La Joya as a teenager, the Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba academy graduate is a player appreciated by football fans globally. As the jewel in the crown of Juventus’ star-studded side of the late 2010s, Dybala won five consecutive Serie A titles, four Coppa Italias and three Supercoppa Italianas, appeared in four Serie A Teams of the Season and was named Serie A MVP for the 2019/20 season.

Yet despite this success, which extends beyond his domestic accolades with Dybala scoring in the 2022 World Cup final penalty shootout for a victorious Argentina side, the elegant playmaker is often perceived as a wasted talent.

Given his nation of birth and effortless style of play, Dybala has frequently had to function in the face of comparisons to the Argentine icon Lionel Messi, comparisons which La Joya was acutely aware of, with a 23-year-old Dybala stating in 2017 that “People should know that I am Dybala, and I want to continue to be so. I understand the comparisons and expectations on me from the Argentines, but I don't want to be the new Messi or the Messi of the future.”

As a result of such comparisons, and more importantly Dybala’s evident talent, both the footballing community and Dybala himself held high expectations for his career. Discussions surrounding the Argentine’s childhood ambition of “Win[ning] the Ballon d'Or” became frequent, and a rise to superstardom looked inevitable.

Dybala’s meteoric rise from Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba youngster to the talisman of Turin was simply impossible to ignore. A Palermo record breaker at just 21, Dybala, by the age of 24, already had all the hallmarks of an iconic forward. The celebration. The tattoos. The left foot. The goals. Dybala was an immensely marketable footballer with the talent to back up the brand.

Yet, despite his on-pitch successes, superstardom never truly followed.

Unlike other ‘wasted talents’ such as Alexandre Pato and Antony Martial, who never replicated the success of their early careers, Paulo Dybala has defined the pinnacle of Italian football for over a decade. Even now, at 32, he continues to bewilder Serie A defences with his magical left foot and his unique ability to effortlessly glide about the pitch.

Long before his Roman revival, 23 goals and 9 assists across his debut season in Turin signalled to the Juventus faithful that Dybala was sure to be their next superstar, an idea cemented when, in August 2017, the Argentine international was bestowed with their prestigious number 10 shirt.

The pressure of carrying the legacy of Juventus legends such as Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero appeared to have little impact on Dybala, as the 2017/2018 season saw La Joya achieve his best single-season goal haul, scoring 26 times.

Although this form suggested that Dybala was sure to be the King of Turin for years to come, his reign was short-lived.

On July 10, 2018, just over a year after Dybala took on the illustrious number 10 shirt, Juventus announced the signing of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo; a €100m move which signalled Dybala’s deposition as the King of the Allianz Stadium.

Despite achieving 14 goal contributions across the subsequent 2018/19 season, the narrative around Dybala had clearly shifted. The man who had once been King was now in his peak years playing second fiddle to a 33-year-old, albeit a 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.

Whilst there is no shame in acting as merely backup to a generational talent such as Ronaldo, it was the actions of the Juventus hierarchy that particularly damaged Dybala’s perception. Persistent rumours of moves to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United gave the impression that the Old Lady was ready to leave Dybala behind. In many ways this signalled something more damaging than its on pitch ramifications, it suggested that the once lauded Paulo Dybala had been replaced as the protagonist in his own story.

Despite bouncing back, winning the 2019/20 Serie A MVP as Juventus pipped Inter Milan to the Scudetto, Dybala was never again the star man for Juventus and, following a few injury-hit campaigns, he was eventually released from his Juventus contract ahead of the 2022/23 season.

For many within the footballing community, who are often more inclined to pay attention to the headlines than to football itself, this action suggested one thing: that a player who had once cost €41m as a 21-year-old was now deemed surplus to requirements at just 28, that a player once spoken of as a future Ballon d’Or winner was leaving Juventus not for Barcelona, Manchester City or another elite club but for a Roma side coming off a sixth-place finish in Serie A. Put simply, this resolution was widely perceived as an indication of individual failure.

Whilst failing to outshine Cristiano Ronaldo is an experience that Dybala shares with many revered players such as Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Karim Benzema, La Joya is unique in that his career has largely been defined by other players and not himself. Much like how his Juventus legacy was greatly diminished by Ronaldo’s arrival, Dybala saw his international career defined by Lionel Messi.

Given that he was often perceived as a ‘mini-Messi’, it followed that successive coaches would fail to integrate Dybala into a side built around the brilliance of La Pulga. For a player of Dybala’s quality to achieve just 40 caps for his nation across over a decade of international availability is deeply underwhelming and, given his supplantation in Turin, suggests that, despite his undoubted talent, Dybala is a player who never quite made it work.

Despite these perceptions, Dybala was, and continues to be, a truly special player. Beyond his honours and beyond his statistics, Dybala’s footballing brain and innate game-changing ability are a combination rarely found in modern football.

Initially breaking through as a second-striker at Palermo, Dybala profiled as both a creator and a finisher, a rare silver bullet player who could carry an attack by both providing for others and by scoring himself. Frequently creating dilemmas for defenders by dropping deep to receive the ball in the half-spaces, Dybala, despite his age, demonstrated early on that he possessed extraordinary footballing intelligence.

Despite fulfilling a similar role as part of a front two in his early Juventus career, Dybala increasingly became a direct attacking weapon, improving upon his finishing and attacking presence whilst maintaining his elite movement. Excelling in almost every attacking metric except physicality, the Argentinian often found himself paired with a larger, more physical facilitator. Whether this be Gonzalo Higuaín, Mario Mandžukić or someone else, such strike partners occupied defenders, allowing Dybala to buzz about the attacking third, driving his side forward by creating opportunities and exploiting space.

As a player who excelled when given freedom to be himself, Dybala, like many elite players, played his best football when given the opportunity to follow his own intuition rather than complex and regimented tactical instruction. Given this, it therefore follows that in a modern footballing environment that increasingly favours intense structures, pre-set gameplans and physicality, Paulo Dybala should be a player left behind. A nostalgic look at the freedoms of football built on individuality rather than a player excelling in the tactical rigidity of 2026.

However, the early weeks of the 2026/27 season suggest that Dybala is far from anachronistic.

Having joined Roma ahead of the 2022/23 season, question marks were raised about whether Dybala still had ‘it’. Roma manager José Mourinho was a notoriously prickly coach and the Giallorossi had lacked a settled goal scorer since Edin Džeko departed for Inter Milan. The stage was set, and it was not apparent whether Dybala would sink or swim when away from the comfort of Turin.

12 goals and 6 assists across his debut Serie A season for Roma placed him at the top in each metric for the Giallorossi, immediately putting to bed any suggestion that Dybala was finished at the top level.

Despite failing to lead Roma to Champions League football until his fourth season in Rome, La Joya continued to excel. Having contributed 45 goals and 32 assists in 146 Roma appearances to date, Dybala has established himself as far more than another successful player to pass through the Stadio Olimpico.

For perhaps the first time since his early career, Dybala has become the undisputed protagonist of his own story. At Juventus, his achievements were often defined by the presence of others but in Rome his performances, personality and unmistakable celebrations have made him one of the most beloved players of the modern Roma era.

The culmination of this success came with Roma’s return to the Champions League. Having spent years outside of European football’s most elite competition, 2026 saw the Giallorossi finally return to the stage on which Dybala had spent so much of his career. For a player whose departure from Juventus was interpreted by many as evidence of decline, helping restore Roma to Europe’s premier competition represents a fitting rebuttal.

At 32, however, Dybala’s story may still have several chapters remaining. Serie A has repeatedly demonstrated that technically gifted players can remain influential well into their late thirties, and Dybala’s game has never been built solely around physical explosiveness.

The early weeks of the 2026/27 season have only strengthened that belief. Under Gian Piero Gasperini, Roma have made an extraordinary start, sitting top of the Serie A unbeaten after 5 games with Dybala once again playing a key role in a side capable of challenging at the top of Italian football. Roma have not won the Scudetto since 2000/01. If Dybala could help lead the Giallorossi to their first league title in over 25 years, it would surely be the crowning achievement of his career.

Having defined Serie A for over a decade with his wicked left foot, his exceptional little touches and his ability to change a game in an instant, to call Dybala a wasted talent is simply reductive. Whilst his career has often been defined by unfortunate optics, 529 games, 181 goals and 91 assists to date at the pinnacle of football indicates a uniquely entertaining footballer capable of creating magic and lifting fans off their feet.

Dybala simply has never been a wasted talent, but perhaps he was just waiting for his story to finally become his own.