Paulo Dybala

Paulo Dybala

Paulo Dybala in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala
Date of birth	(1993-11-15) 15 November 1993 (age 23)
Place of birth	Laguna Larga, Córdoba, Argentina
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current team	Juventus
Number	21
Youth career
2003–2011	Instituto
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2012	Instituto	40	(17)
2012–2015	Palermo	90	(21)
2015–	Juventus	47	(24)
National team‡
2015–	Argentina	6	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 January 2017. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2016

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 January 2017.

Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaulo ðiˈβala]; born 15 November 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian club Juventus and the Argentina national team.

After beginning his career in Argentina with Instituto de Córdoba, in 2011, he moved to Italian club Palermo in 2012; his performances in Serie A later earned him a transfer to Juventus in 2015, where he won the league title, the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana during his first season with the club.

Due to his creative style of play, pace, talent, technique, and eye for goal, he has been nicknamed La Joya (The Jewel, in Spanish).

Although Paulo was born in Laguna Larga, in Córdoba, Argentina, his grandfather, Bolesław Dybała, was from the village of Kraśniów in Poland; he fled from his country of birth to Argentina during World War II. Paulo's family also has Italian origins through his maternal grandmother, named Da Messa, from the Province of Naples. Paulo officially obtained his Italian citizenship on 13 August 2012.

Nicknamed La Joya or El pibe de la pensión, Dybala made his professional debut in the Primera B Nacional (Argentine second division) with his hometown club Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba, when he was 17 years old. In total he played 40 games with the club, scoring 17 goals. He was the youngest to score a goal beating the record of Mario Kempes, Dybala was also the first to play 38 consecutive games in a professional league in the country by beating again Kempes, and he was also the first to score two hat-tricks in a season and has scored in six consecutive games, surpassing the previous record of four games.