The debrief on Paulo Dybala’s third season at Roma

March 24, 2025 Samuel Bannister Features, First Team, Opinion 0

Cast your mind back to mid-August, when it looked like Paulo Dybala was about to leave Roma for Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League.

Benched for Roma’s Serie A season opener against Cagliari in the midst of the noise, all signs pointed towards La Joya leaving the club. And yet, astonishingly, Dybala snubbed a €25m-per-year offer and stayed in Rome.

There was to be an encore to his Roma career. This article might never have existed had he not had a late change of heart seven months ago, but thanks to Dybala’s decision, it does. Sadly, it’s against the backdrop of his season being over already.

The surgery Dybala has required after getting injured in the reverse fixture against Cagliari before the March international break has come with warnings of an absence that seems to be getting increasingly longer. At first it was weeks. Then it was months. Now, after he headed to London for surgery, there are forecasts of Dybala not being back until September, after next season has started.

On one hand, and after his contract automatically extended until 2026, that means we should see more of Roma’s talisman in a fourth season. On the other, it’s a blow to lose him before the business end of the third – which, if as it seems is over, will be the one with his lowest appearance, goal and assist tallies since he came to Roma in 2022. But how will Dybala’s third chapter at Roma be remembered?

While his numbers have dropped, there have been a lot of factors impacting Dybala. The decision about the Saudi move must have played on his mind, as much celebration as his rejection prompted.

For the first few weeks of the season, he didn’t seem himself. The seeds had been planted that Roma might be preparing for a future without him, especially after the summer signing of Matías Soulé.

Things got even worse in the Ivan Jurić era, when Dybala was pushed so far out wide that he sometimes had to drop back as a quasi-wing-back. He did so diligently, but also knowing his physical limitations. And it was abundantly obvious that Dybala was lacking freedom.

But while Dybala’s lows this season have been as low as they ever have at Roma, he’s also recorded some of his highest peaks.

Since the return of Claudio Ranieri to the Roma dugout, things have been simplified. Roma’s best players have been allowed to play in their best roles, with few feeling the benefits as much as Dybala.

Under Ranieri, Dybala scored six goals and made five assists from 24 appearances. Under De Rossi and Jurić earlier in the season, he managed two goals and one assist from 12 appearances. On the surface, he has been three times as good under Ranieri.

And it showed. Dybala, who won the Serie A Player of the Month award three times last season, got his hands on that individual prize again for his efforts in December 2024.

In the first three months of 2025, Dybala has since stood out for his moments of individual technique and quality, controlling the ball and keeping it away from opposition players exceptionally well.

At the time of his injury, only four players in Serie A have been fouled more than Dybala (60) this season. He has been a magnet for opposing defenders who just haven’t known how to deal with him.

This was also evident in the Europa League, especially in the play-off tie against Porto in which Dybala’s brace in the second leg proved crucial.

His ability to draw in defenders and be one step ahead of them, wherever he is on the pitch, has relieved so much pressure from Roma. Now, they will have to navigate their last nine games of the season without him, relying on other players like Soulé, Tommaso Baldanzi and Lorenzo Pellegrini.

After the events of August, Roma fans should be grateful for any service from Dybala, but it’s natural that as the team’s highest-paid player, there are always big expectations on the Argentine.

That was also a factor behind the Friedkin Group seemingly being wary of letting Dybala’s deal renew, although Ranieri quickly stamped his authority and insisted that Roma’s best players should be playing.

And so, even this unexpected third act might not turn out to be Dybala’s last at Roma. Hopefully, he will have more memories to provide with the club next season. But realistically, this will be ranked as third out of three when picking from his best campaigns at Roma so far.

And yet, look at how the team struggled when he was struggling too. Look at how they improved when he improved. Now join the dots.

Being too reliant on Dybala is something Roma have been trying to crawl away from in recent months, but the fact of the matter remains that he is the player who most makes them tick.

It is to his credit, too, that the 31-year-old has asked to remain close to the team during his recovery, supporting Ranieri and his staff with any extra wisdom he can pass on to his teammates.

He will be missed on the pitch, but Dybala’s connection to Roma is still locked in. Will he be a building block for the next project? There are no guarantees. But even if he has generally fallen below his own high standards this season, on the whole he has still been one of Roma’s best players.

In fact, taking the average match ratings from Italy’s papers, in many eyes he has still ranked as the best.

This was the season in which Dybala surpassed a century of appearances for Roma. It was also the season in which he moved into their top 30 of all-time goalscorers by reaching 42.

Critics pointed to his high penalty ratio, but Dybala kept up his perfect record from the spot to prove Roma could rely on him. (Of the players with a 100% record from the spot for Roma, Dybala has scored more than all.) But besides, only three of his eight goals in 2024-25 were penalties.

There were times when he was rolling back the years with his quality on the pitch, wowing even neutrals. It just flickered all too briefly.

But Roma have always known Dybala’s fragility. They wouldn’t have stood a chance of signing him in the first place if it wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, this latest blow will be his most serious since joining Roma.

And so, season three of Dybala at Roma can be viewed on the whole as one with an interrupted start and finish. But in the middle, he still provided the fans with skills to savour.

Ever since he rejected the Saudi move, the theme of this season should have been to not take Dybala for granted. Hopefully, the larger proportions of the fanbase have been following that advice.

Because you can take La Joya out of Roma, but you can’t take the joy out of La Joya.

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