Many of the top scorers in Serie A are familiar names. Carlos Tevez. Gonzalo Higuaín. Antonio Di Natale. Even Jérémy Menez and his scoring run aren't that startling if you think back to his Roma days. There's one player up there with them, though, who's surprising many that haven't had their eyes glued to Serie A. That player? Young Palermo forward Paulo Dybala.
Paulo Dybala is already Italy’s best game changer
The Argentine’s impact at Palermo is likely even bigger than most people realize.
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The 21-year-old striker has been a revelation for Palermo this season, scoring seven goals so far for the rosanero. Thanks in very large part to Dybala and the threat he creates on the pitch, Palermo find themselves in a very strong and impressive seventh place in Serie A in their first season after being promoted back up from Italy’s second division.
It’s not just the goals that Dybala has scored, though, it’s when he’s scored them. Not only does the Argentine have seven goals from 15 matches, but all seven have given Palermo the lead. Part of that is because six of them have been the first of the match, but that’s plenty impressive in and of itself. It’s not even like Dybala has scored a bunch of penalties either; he only has one spot kick adding to his tally.
That kind of consistent impact is a rare thing. Usually a healthy percentage of any good striker’s goals are result-changing, meaning an equalizer or giving his team the lead. For that percentage to be 100% this late in the season with a decent number of goals scored is incredible, even if the sample size is still on the low side. Even if he regresses towards the mean, Dybala will have left an impressive and indelible mark on Palermo’s season.
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Dybala was already on the radar of many, but his season so far has put him front and center on everyone’s screens. He’s attracting big-money attention from big-money teams around Europe, and Palermo will be sorely tempted to cash in on that chip. Like most Italian teams, they don’t have the best income in the world and could probably use a big influx of cash. Losing him would be a big blow, but with Andrea Belotti, Franco Vázquez, and tens of millions of euros in their pocket, Palermo should be able to find a way to make do.
Of course, that’s the optimistic theory. Several years ago, a Palermo side headlined by Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore, and Salvatore Sirigu finished fifth in Serie A. Then all three were sold, Palermo frittered away the money, and they were relegated two years later. Fans aren’t exactly trusting Palermo to make the right decisions with any money they’d get for Dybala, so would rather management decide to keep the young forward rather than cash in on him.
In the meantime, though, Palermo can rely on Dybala to play at a high level, serving as the focus of their attack and scoring game-changing goals. No player in Italy has had as big an impact on his side as Dybala, and few in the world can claim more. As long as he’s around, Palermo will be much better off for it.
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