The evolution and devolution of Paulo Dybala
- By Kaustubh Pandey (@Kaus_Pandey17)
Especially now, things seem to have changed a lot for Dybala. Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Juventus, the spotlight has gone off La Joya. For many, he has become a bad player. Some others feel that he isn’t as good a player as he was before Ronaldo came to the bianconeri. But a few others still retain the opinion that Dybala is one of the best in his position on his day.
While its not easy to point out to any one of those arguments for the sort of season the player has had, but it is slightly easier to see how Dybala has changed over time as a player. From his days as a scrawny kid at Instituto to the days of fame at the bianconeri, a lot has changed.
It is the post-Ronaldo period that makes it for curious viewing. Before the Portuguese arrived, Dybala was Juve’s most prized asset. He was the most hyped and the most talented player in the side. Its important to know that Dybala was a left-winger since his early days in back in Laguna Larga, but he was very good as a striker and as a right-winger. His low centre of gravity and technique made him more than just an out and out forward.
It was his arrival in Italy at Palermo that made him more of a right-winger than he was in Argentina. At the rosanero, Dybala would play as a striker, but had the license and freedom to either cut inside with the blessed pair of feet or free-roam around the final third to create when the need arose. But he never stuck to playing on the left-wing. There were though, glimpses of brilliance from the left flank too. As evident from the way he almost manhandled Cristian Zapata in Palermo’s 2-0 win over AC Milan in the 2014-15 season.
A lot of times he found spaces near the left flank, despite being the right-winger and he had the freedom to roam. It captured the sort of player Dybala naturally is- a striker who can roam about in the final third and cut in from the right flank or deliver a quality assist from the left.
On his arrival at Juve, La Joya was used only as a striker in his first season. But he did drift towards the right- his primary preference. But he never played as an out and out. When he picked up positions on the flank, he would cut inside. Even in his second season, the role remained quite the same. The output did reduce, but the presence of Gonzalo Higuain caused a lot of that.
Higuain scored 24 times that season and the attention shifted to him. Many of them advanced positions that Higuain took were where Dybala was in the previous season. His role became slightly limited, but Dybala still operated as the second striker who somehow stayed wide. This was exactly when Dybala became more of a wide playmaker than he ever was. Its arguable if he evolved or not, but Dybala became a more complete player, despite having scored only 11 times that season.
And he matured as a player too. He was hardly someone who had a proper centre-forward playing with him, but Higuain’s arrival meant that his role changed. In the 2017-18 season, Dybala got used to that change and adapted himself to playing that way.
He was used in every position around the striker- as a number ten, as a left-winger or a right-winger. And while the focus was on Higuain, Dybala struck up a formidable partnership with the compatriot and was thus handed more license to play around him- be it wide or behind him.
While La Joya never got into too many advanced positions because of Higuain’s presence up front, he did score as many as 22 times that season, despite being out of the side for some games around December and January.
He exceeded his XG by as much as 8.83 and as Higuain’s influence faded, it was Dybala’s whose might had grown. He seemed to have reached the peak of his powers, as Higuain aged. But the way they complimented themselves stood out. It was down to how Dybala had adapted himself to a different style; a different approach.
It is this season though, that is worth talking about. Higuain’s departure led to the arrival of Ronaldo and its no wonder who becomes the tip of the pyramid when that happens. Ronaldo and Mandzukic always seem to exchange positions around the left-flank, no matter who starts in either the position up front or in the position down the left. Mandzukic is more of that off the ball left-winger who likes to drift in to be at the receiving end of crosses.
This season, a lot has changed. The attention and focus from Dybala has shifted. It has gone to Ronaldo, who has scored 19 times in the Serie A. But Massimiliano Allegri has experimented with his front three this season. Dybala has either played behind both Ronaldo and Mandzukic or he has formed a good part of a fluid front three.
He does find himself on the right-flank, but he never exactly acts like a proper winger; the way he never has. He’s almost like an almost like inside forward or a false trequarista, who keeps on taking up positions behind the two strikers to allow Joao Cancelo to make runs forward down the right flank.
The fact that he still has a lot of himself despite being played wide shows how he has developed as a player. He has scored only 3 times and has assisted only 4 times, but it is a bit like what happened when Higuain had joined. His goals and assists tally had reduced. But it took him a season to get used to that and become a better player.
One can go on and on about how Dybala has regressed by playing with Ronaldo and draw comparisons with what Neymar’s situation with Lionel Messi was, but Dybala has matured as a player this season more than he ever has.
The number of key passes he plays per game has gone at a high this season. The Argentine has played 2.76 key passes per game this season, as compared to the 2.06 of last season and 2.41 of the season before that. He has two near proper forwards playing either in front of him or to his left and that helped him become a more proficient creator.
The situation maybe slightly similar to Neymar’s, but football can be a game of personalities and how a player carries himself. Neymar is a player who certainly loves the spotlight. He thrives on it. Be in on the pitch, or off it. His thirst for that saw him leave Lionel Messi’s shadow and head to Paris Saint-Germain.
As for Dybala, he thrives on having the side played around him. But he isn’t exactly that sort of a person who thrives on spotlight and attention. But what the future holds for him will depend a lot on the person he is. Not exactly on what player he is.