#1 Paulo Dybala – Juventus (Jan 2016: €28 million, Now: €65 million)
Increase in value: €37 million
Often hailed as the successor to Lionel Messi in the Argentine setup, Paulo Dybala has done enough in the last 18 months to further fuel the hype. No, he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or but he knocked out Messi’s Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League in the quarter-finals after netting twice against them at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.
The 23-year-old has a long way to go and has to achieve a plethora of things before he can be even considered on par, or as a successor to Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest footballer of all time. But La Joya – as he is fondly nicknamed – is on the right path as he helped Juventus reach the final of the UEFA Champions League, while also helping them complete the domestic double.
19 goals and 9 assists aren’t particularly eye-catching numbers when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo plunder 50 goals apiece each season but Dybala adds so much to the game than just his goals and assists, apart from having an incredible room to improve. Will he become the next best thing in the world of football? Your guess is as good as mine but until then, let’s enjoy the brilliance of the fleet-footed Argentine.
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