Paulo Dybala was once the jewel in Juventus’ crown — but not any more.

The Bianconeri have confirmed the forward will leave when his contract expires this summer, meaning the race to sign the Argentine begins now.

But how did a player once so integral to the Juve cause become so dispensable? And where could he go next?

With Dybala now on international duty ahead of his country's World Cup qualifier against Venezuela on Friday, we have taken a deeper look at the future of the South American star.

An inevitable exit

Despite being vice-captain of the Turin club, Dybala has seen his status as the Old Lady's most-important player diminish in recent years.

And that has only become more pronounced since the £66.6million signing of Dusan Vlahovic from Fiorentina in January.

With Dybala reportedly demanding a new deal worth as much as £10m a year, there is a sense that he still sees himself as the main man — but the reality is he is not going to be at Juve.

Furthermore, Dybala has missed a whopping 57% of all Juventus’ fixtures over the last two seasons.

That is why there was a certain inevitability about his departure from the Allianz Stadium.

Revolving door

Since joining Juve from Palermo in 2015, Dybala has played under three different coaches — including current boss Max Allegri, who left in 2019 but returned last summer.

Allegri’s second spell has had a positive effect on Dybala with the 28-year-old looking somewhere near his best this season.

His expected goals per 90 (0.41) is the highest it has been since 2017-18 (0.48) while his goals and assists contribution is 0.78, a figure Dybala has exceeded just twice in his Juve career.

But all might not be as harmonious as it seems between Allegri and Dybala, with Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that the two were involved in a heated training ground argument last week.

Allegri has since dismissed any suggestion of a dispute, but personal differences might have played a part in the Bianconeri’s decision not to offer Dybala an extension.

Money matters

The decision to let Dybala go will have been influenced by other choices still to come. This seems to have come down to money above all else.

Juve have to weigh up the impact of making loan deals for Alvaro Morata and Moise Kean permanent, which could come at a combined cost of over £60m.

Ultimately, in the blunt words of club CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, Dybala "was no longer at the centre of the project".

The next step

The scorer of 113 goals in 283 appearances for the Serie A giants, Dybala will not be short of suitors.

Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid have both been linked with the Argentina international while he came close to joining Tottenham in 2019. 

But how about Manchester United?

For starters, Dybala has previously spoken of the "pleasure" of playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Juve.

Back in 2019, he said: "Of course I enjoy [playing with Ronaldo].

"Cristiano's a champion and it's always a pleasure to play with guys like him. Ronaldo makes things that are very difficult actually seem easy."

United are at something of a fork in the road in attack. Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani are expected to leave this summer while Marcus Rashford’s future is increasingly unclear.

That would leave Ronaldo as their only available senior centre forward going into the 2022-23 campaign.

What might have been

With five Scudetti and four Coppa Italia winners’ medals to his name, Dybala should not have many regrets about his time in Turin.

But failing to win the Champions League may be his biggest one.

No Juve team has done so since 1996 and Dybala was a member of the side which reached the final in 2016-17, only to lose 4-1 to Real Madrid in Cardiff.

There is still plenty of time to claim Europe’s ultimate prize, and the likelihood of doing so may well factor heavily into Dybala’s choice of destination.