Why Paulo Dybala Is Juventus' Most Improved Player in 2015/16

When Paulo Dybala limped off in the first half of Sunday’s Turin derby, it was a major blow to Juventus in a season where they have been besieged by injury at every turn. Indeed, the striker had only just returned to the starting XI after a calf issue caused him to miss last week’s UEFA Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.

He has become so central to the tactical approach of coach Massimiliano Allegri that his absence must be noted when discussing reasons for Juve’s exit, but the Juve boss revealed that the substitution against the Granata was merely a precaution.

“The calf is fine, he got a knock to the flexor muscle,” Allegri told Mediaset Premium and Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia). That will come as huge relief to the Bianconeri, who will need their leading scorer to be fit and firing over the remaining eight matches as they look to secure a fifth-consecutive Serie A title.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

Yet while Dybala’s 16 goals comfortably make him the club’s most prolific striker, there is little doubt that he is also Juventus' most improved player in 2015/16, making a significant step up in quality since moving to Turin back in June.

The club’s official website revealed that Juventus paid Palermo €32 million for the 22-year-old, with a potential further €8 million to be added on if certain performance-related targets are met over the next four years.

Landing with the Sicilian side back in 2012, Dybala had endured two difficult seasons with the Rosanero, netting just eight goals in his first 58 matches before enjoying a breakout campaign in 2014/15.

Palermo had returned to the top flight after winning the Serie B title in the previous season, and coach Beppe Iachini began to feature Dybala as his leading striker. He was rewarded with an impressive return of 13 goals and 10 assists over 34 matches, figures that the former Instituto man already looks set to surpass this term.

In addition to his 16 goals, Dybala is also just two assists short of his previous mark, and statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com highlight a number of other areas in which he has improved at a similar rate.

According to their figures, Dybala took an average of 3.4 shots per game last term, with that number dropping to 3.0 in 2015/16, while the number of chances he creates for others sits at 2.2 per outing compared with 1.7 a year ago.

His unsuccessful touches have fallen drastically from the 3.5 per game he averaged in 2014/15 to just 2.0 this time around, and his passing accuracy has risen from 81.6 percent last season to 84.3 percent this term.

Paulo Dybala Statistics via WhoScored.com

Those improvements have drawn praise from Mr. Allegri, who lauded Dybala after a stunning two-goal, two-assist performance against Udinese in January as he told Premium Sport (h/t Gazzetta World):

"

Dybala has improved a lot but I’m not interested in comparing him to great players or anything like that. I have heard the comparisons with [Lionel] Messi but he can still get better. He is also a completely different player to [Carlos] Tevez and has a major career ahead if he can stay grounded.

He still has a lot of room for improvement in his game, as do many of the players in our squad.

"

It is perhaps that last sentence that should prove most chilling for Juve’s opponents, with the thought of even further improvement from Dybala a frightening prospect for defenders across Serie A.

“He will be the future and is the present of Juventus,” Allegri told a press conference back in October, and the leap the vastly improved Dybala has taken this term provides hope that that future will be very bright indeed.