Dybala Shines in Roma's Pre-Season Win

Roma’s pre-season began with a gentle scoreline and a loud statement.

Against their Primavera side, a 6-0 intra-squad win is not the kind of result that will echo across Europe, but what happened inside those minutes will have pleased Gian Piero Gasperini. Paulo Dybala looked like Paulo Dybala again.

Sharp, inventive, decisive. The Argentine, as reported by TuttoMercatoWeb, resembled the player who almost single-handedly hauled Roma through the final stretch of last season. He produced flashes of the rare quality that separates him from most around him, finishing with two goals, an assist and – perhaps most importantly – the look of a man who has done his work early this summer.

Gasperini has been clear since his arrival: a fit Dybala changes everything. The caveat has always been that word “fit”. For once, the early signs back him up. Dybala’s movement, his timing, the way he accelerated into space rather than drifting on the periphery – all of it hinted at a player whose body is finally in sync with his talent.

If Roma’s season is to tilt upwards, it will likely do so on the back of performances like that.

Dovbyk back in the frame

There was more good news for Gasperini in attack. Artem Dovbyk, who saw the end of last season wrecked by a tendon problem that required surgery, stepped back onto the pitch with the urgency of a man who knows the clock is ticking on his Roma future.

He scored twice. He could have had more.

The finishing was there, but so was the aggression in his runs and the willingness to test that repaired tendon in every sprint and duel. For a striker coming off a significant injury, that matters as much as the goals themselves.

These next few weeks will define his place in Gasperini’s plans. Dovbyk’s name has been floated in the market, mentioned as a possible sale to help fund new arrivals, with Roma pushing to reshape their attacking options and target profiles such as Crysencio Summerville.

That makes every training session an audition, every friendly a verdict.

For now, though, Dybala is gliding, Dovbyk is scoring, and Gasperini has the one thing every coach craves in July: attacking pieces that look ready to fight for their place rather than wait for it.