(Reuters) – AS Roma forward Paulo Dybala said on Tuesday his contract with former club Juventus had not been renewed because he was not part of the Serie A club’s future plans while thousands of AS Roma fans welcomed him in the Italian capital.
The 28-year-old, who has represented Argentina 34 times, joined the Europa Conference League champions on a free transfer last week following his departure from Juventus.
“With Juve it was not a financial problem,” Dybala told reporters.
“We had a deal to sign in October, then the club asked us to wait and in March told me that I would have not been part of their future plans.
“The club took a different decision together with the coach.”
Dybala won five league titles and four Coppa Italia trophies with Juventus after joining them from Palermo in 2015, scoring 115 goals in 293 appearances across all competitions, but his last two seasons were hampered by a string of injuries.
“At Juve I earned experience, I’ll try to do my best in the locker room as well to help (the team) win and to always be positive during difficult moments,” he added.
“It is too soon to talk about the scudetto. At the moment there are teams which are ahead of us, we need to work with a peace of mind.
“Everyone likes to win, we need to do it match after match and later on we will see where we have arrived.”
AS Roma travel to Salernitana on Aug. 14 in their first match of the 2022/2023 season and will compete in the Europa League having won the Europa Conference League last season.
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk; Editing by Stephen Coates)
