Juventus director Francesco Calvo has addressed the ongoing dispute over Paulo Dybala’s contract, whilst issuing an update on extension talks with Angel Di Maria: ‘We are confident.’
Juve’s Chief Football Officer also spoke of the importance of Sunday evening’s battle in the race to secure qualification for next year’s edition of the Champions League.
Following their -15 point deduction at the end of January, Juventus currently find themselves in seventh place in the Serie A standings, whilst Roma sit in fifth, within three points of the top four.
Speaking to DAZN ahead of the highly-anticipated encounter at the Stadio Olimpico, Calvo confirmed: “It is certainly an important game, we always look at two standings. One says that we are nine points behind Roma and one says that we are six points in front.
“As we have always said, we take things game by game, it is important for us to win tonight.”
The topic of conversation soon turned to Angel Di Maria who has been in inspired form over recent weeks. The Argentine showcased his brilliance with a hat-trick during Juve’s 3-0 win over Nantes in the second leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie two weeks ago. His contract in Turin expires in the summer.
Calvo divulged that Juve are keen to tie Di Maria down to a new deal, whose current contract expires at the end of the season.
“Di Maria is certainly a technical leader on the pitch as well as in the dressing room, so he is very important. We always want to keep important players and the evidence of that is the renewal of Danilo during the week,” the Juve chief told DAZN.
“With Di Maria we are talking, we will give some time to conduct negotiations when there is something to be announced we will do, we are confident.”
Calvo was also asked about the stories that were published last week in regard to the outstanding sums Juve allegedly owes Paulo Dybala.
According to reports in Gazzetta dello Sport, Dybala is owed over €3m from his time in Turin but insisted he “doesn’t want to sue” his former employers.
In response to those claims, Calvo stated: “Dybala was an important player for Juve for seven seasons, he is a champion but we have to look to the players we currently have.”
Italian media published part of his interrogation with investigators earlier this week.
“As an Italian who has spent so much time living abroad, I am always surprised when news comes out that should be kept secret,” said Calvo.
“In regards to the documents released in the newspapers, I am in the hands of our lawyers but I want to say that no one has been examined by a judge involved in the trials and at the moment we cannot add anything more.”
Dybala has been indispensable to Mourinho’s Roma side over the course of this season, contributing eight goals and seven assists from his 17 appearances in Serie A so far.