Facts You Didn’t Know about Paulo Dybala
There are many famous people in the list of COVID-19 patients. In football world we also have had a lot of cases, including Mikel Arteta, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Daniele Rugani, and many more.
It was just two days ago when we heard that two more famous soccer players have been added to the list. The two were Paulo Dybala, Juventus forward, and Milan’s technical director, Paolo Maldini, whom many of us know as one of the greatest defenders in the world ever.
But what do we know about these famous players and their professional lives? There is no doubt that we may have some information, but do we know everything? Not for sure. That’s why we have decided to take a closer look at Paulo Dybala’s life in this article today. Are you ready to know more? If yes, then let’s keep on.
Facts you should know about the new Coronavirus patient, Paulo Dybala
You may know that Dybala is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Juventus and the Argentina national team.
Dybala is known as "La Joya" which means "The Jewel" due to his creative style of play, pace, talent, technique and eye for goal.
Dybala moved to Italian club Palermo in 2012, after beginning his career in Argentina with Instituto de Córdoba in 2011. He spent three seasons in Palermo, two in Serie A and won Serie B in 2013–14. In 2015 and when he was only 21, Dybala joined Juventus for an initial fee of €32 million and has since made over 100 appearances for the club, winning the double of Serie A and Coppa Italia in each of his three seasons. He has also been named in the Serie A Team of the Year three times.
Time to go through more specific facts about him. Ready? Let’s go on then.
Early life
Dybala was born in Laguna Larga, Córdoba, Argentina, back in 15 November 1993. He has ancestral roots as his grandfather, Bolesław Dybała, was from the village of Kraśniów in Poland and had moved to Argentina during World War II while he also has Italian origins through his maternal great-grandmother, whose surname was Da Messa, from the Province of Naples. Dybala obtained Italian citizenship on 13 August 2012.
Dybala was raised in a middle-class family. His father was Adolfo Dybala and his mother is named Alicia de Dybala. The couple has two older sons, named Mariano and Gustavo.
Growing up, Dybala took an interest in football with the support of his father as he would follow him to matches and ensured he trained without disturbance.
Unfortunately, in 2008, while he was just 15 years old, his father died.
Nickname
As we have mentioned Dybala is known as "La Joya" which means "The Jewel" due to his creative style of play, pace, talent, technique and eye for goal.
The story goes that during Dybala’s early years, Argentine journalist Marcos Villalobo, was in attendance during a game in which young forward was playing and mesmerized by him, Villalobo named him ‘La Joya’. The nickname has subsequently been adopted by the fans and his teammates.
This is while his other nickname is ‘El pibe de la pensión’ which means ‘The kid that creates the pension’. He got the nickname ‘El pibe de la pension’ after his father’s untimely death, which forced him to move out of his house and shift to Cordoba’s guesthouse.
Dybala has also another nickname which one of his teammates and friends has given him. "Square R2" is the nickname that Paul Pogba used to call Dybala.
Appearances
Time to go through Dybala’s body features. The young brilliant player is 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m) tall and he weighs 75 kg. His hair color is Dark Brown and he has got light blue eyes.
Net Worth, Endorsements, Sponsorships and Salary
Like many other famous faces in the world, Dybala is earning money not just from playing football, but also from sponsership and endorsement deals he makes with brands such as Adidas, Nike, New Balance, and others.
Paulo Dybala estimated net worth of $25 million as of 2019 and his annual salary of 5.5 million euro with the new contract while the previous contract paid him $3.4 million. His current weekly wage is reported to be 60,000 euro. His market value price is 110 million euro.
Wife & Girlfriends
Paulo Dybala not married. His first girlfriend was Antonella Cavalieri who is a model. Later he started a relationship with Givera Sozzi. The sizzling Sozzi had not much to do in star footballer's life as it was a short period that was getting over with Dybala getting on track with his former girlfriend.
His current girlfriend is Oriana Sabatini who is simply known as Oriana in the music business. She is a 22-year-old pop singer, actress and model in Argentina, who was born in Buenos Aires. She is also related to sporting royalty in her own country as her aunt is the incredibly famous Gabriela Sabatini, who won the US Open back in 1990.
She began writing her first songs at the age of 8, inviting her neighbours round her home to watch her perform.
Sabatini met Dybala at a show in 2017, when she supported Ariana Grande.
But their romantic relationship wasn't confirmed until they posted a selfie together after the 2018 World Cup.
It was two days ago when the Argentina international, wrote on Instagram: "Hi everyone, I just wanted to inform you that we have received the results for the Covid-19 test and both Oriana and I have tested positive."
"Luckily we are in perfect conditions. Thanks for your messages."
His tattoos and their meanings
Dybala's tattoos and their meanings
- Two Black Stripes on his left forearm
Dybala has got Black strips on his left forearm. In an interview with an Argentinian magazine, he was asked about the meaning behind this tattoo. Paulo said, "I did it because I liked it. A teammate has the same tattoo, and I liked its aesthetics. it is similar to the bracelets used by the ancient Romans for war, but I did it for the aesthetic, rather than for whatever meaning it may have."
- Crowned Football on his Left Calf
He also has got a tattoo of a football with a crown on his left calf, which shows his love, affection and dedication towards the game.
- Arabic Script on left Ribs
Paulo got an Arabic script inscribed on his left rib cage near to his heart. In the interview with the same Argentinian magazine, he said that it is the most important tattoo for him as it is his mother’s name, Alice, inked in the Arabic language. This tattoo was done on 25th December 2013.
- Arabic Script on Right Calf
His last tattoo is another Arabic script inked on his right calf, which is his father’s name, Adolfo.
Who are his best friends
It has to be said that there is no doubt that Dybala has many friends in his life, but he has chosen Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo as the closest ones which is a very interesting fact about him.
His hobbies
In case you are interested to know about Dybala’s hobbies, you have to know that besides playing football, the 26-year-old is interested in watching Movies, playing video games, listening to music, watching TV series and also collecting cars as he has a collection of Sports cars, Ferarri, Range Rover, and Audia A1.
Representing Argentina instead of Poland or Italy
As we mentioned Dybala has ancestral roots and so he had the option to choose between three countries to represent on the international stage which were Argentina, Poland and Italy. However, in the end, the forward chose to represent Argentina, as he feels Argentine and always dreamt of representing La Albiceleste.
Football career
Instituto de Córdoba (2011–2012)
As we have mentioned previously Dybala was always supported by his dad for playing soccer. After he died in 2008, Dybala continued playing football and in 2010, at the age of 17, debuted for the Argentine club, Instituto de Córdoba in the Primera B Nacional. He became the youngest player to claim a goal and the first player to play in 38 successive matches in the professional league. After a two year stint at the club, Dybala left the club.
Palermo (2012–2015)
In April 2012, Italian club, U.S. Città di Palermo announced that they have signed Dybala, with the President of the club, Maurizio Zamparini, referring to him as the new Sergio Dybala. The amazing player signed a 4-year contract with the club with a transfer fee valued at €8.64m. After debuting for Palermo, Dybala scored his first goal in the Serie A on November 11, 2012. He continued playing as a regular player until the 2014/15 season where he registers 10 goals in the earlier in the season. Dybala then formed a formidable partnership with Franco Vázquez, and he rounded off the season as the top provider of assists in Serie A. Interesting. Huh?
Juventus (2015- today)
Then it was time to join the Serie A champions. In June 2015, Dybala made the move to Juventus. He signed a 5-year contract valued at €32 million with the club. Dybala was handed the #21 jersey. In August 2015, he grabbed his first goal in the league with Juventus. He also scored his first goal in the Coppa Italia in December 2015 and opened his first goal record in the UEFA Champions League in February 2016. After scoring as much as 23 goals for Juventus, with 19 of those goals in the Serie A, Dybala finished his first season with Juventus as the club’s highest goalscorer. He also won the Series A with Juventus.
In the 2016/17 season, Paul Pogba left the club to join the Red Devils and that was when the #10 jersey was offered to Dybala, but he refused. He continued in fine form, which led Juventus to hand him a contract extension to be with the team till 2022. He played in the UEFA Champions League final, 2017, which Juventus lost to Madrid. In August 2017, Dybala was nominated for the Forward of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League as one of the top three finalists. He also agreed to wear the vacant number 19 jersey in August. That same month, in the 2017 UEFA Best Player of the Year Award, Dybala emerged sixth.
Following the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo by Juventus, Dybala was subject to a position switch. This coupled with injuries and friction with the club’s manager, decreased Dybala’s form. Despite all this, he managed to lift the Serie A with Juventus.
After his poor performance in the 2018/19 season, Dybala was linked to a move to Manchester United, but the deal never came through. It was rumoured that he’ll leave for EPL side, Tottenham Hotspurs, but he continued with Juventus for the remainder of the season.
International Career
Dybala was qualified to play for both Italy and Poland as a result of his family ties there, but he chose to play for Argentina. After repeated offers to play for the Argentinian U-17 and U-20 side, which he declined, he eventually responded to an invitation to play for the team’s senior team in September 2015. He debuted for the team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in October 2015. He played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Copa America where Argentina won bronze.
His footballing idols
But who is his footballing idol? Though the young player plays for Argentina which is known as one of the bests, but surprisingly, his role model is not Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi. Instead his role model is Italian legend Andrea Pirlo.
In his documentary, titled ‘La Joya’, Dybala revealed that Pirlo was his favourite footballer growing up and was also his role model. However, Pirlo is not the only footballer to have influenced ‘La Joya’, as he has claimed that growing up he idolised the legendary Argentine midfielder, Juan Roman Riquelme along with Barcelona and Brazil legend, Ronaldinho.
The story behind his Juventus jersey number
Though he used to wear the #9 jersey at Palermo, when Dybala arrived at Juventus the #9 shirt was occupied by Alvaro Morata in Turin and he had to choose another number. The Argentine opted for the #21 jersey, which had just been vacated by the legendary Andrea Pirlo, who had moved to the MLS. Long before Pirlo, even the great Zinedine Zidane had donned the #21 jersey at Juventus and thus Dybala considered it to be an iconic number.
His goal celebration: Dybalamask
What do you know about Dybala’s goal celebration? The 26-year-old celebrates his goals in two ways. The first is a Messiesque celebration with two fingers pointing towards the sky, which is his way of dedicating his goals to his late father. And the second is a very interesting one, which is called the ‘Dybalamask’.
To celebrate the goal, using this gesture, he covers his face, below the nose, with his hands in a manner which is akin to what a mask does. So what exactly does the celebration mean? Well, he has said that Dybalamask is really simple as it's the mask of a gladiator!
"When we struggle, sometimes we must wear our warrior mask to be stronger, without losing our smile and kindness!" Dybala said in an interview.
