Mourinho sets Dybala alarm bells ringing for Argentina

This coming Monday, 14 November, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni will name his 26-man roster for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. One of the great mysteries surrounding the announcement is whether Paulo Dybala will be on the plane.

Paulo Dybala absent for Roma since early-October with a thigh injury

The Roma attacker suffered a thigh injury on 9 October in the act of taking a penalty in his team’s Serie A game against Lecce. Since then, he has been doing intense recovery work in an effort to ensure that he is able to go to Qatar. His recovery deadlines are being met but club boss José Mourinho set alarm bells ringing in Argentina when talking about Dybala on Wednesday.

According to Argentinian media, Scaloni expected Dybala to feature in Roma’s upcoming clash with Torino on Sunday but Mourinho has cast doubt over the player’s availability. “I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I don’t know what he’s said to Scaloni and to Argentina. I don’t know if he has to play on Sunday to go to the World Cup or not,” declared the Portuguese in his press conference after the midweek draw against Sassuolo.

“Players who are going to the World Cup are definitely going to have that on their minds ahead of the last league game. Obviously, we need Paulo. If I could choose, I would like to be able to pick Dybala against Torino.” Should Dybala not feature, he would go into the tournament in Qatar having not played a single minute of soccer in a month and a half.