Corriere dello Sport reported that Dybala, sidelined since March following a meniscus operation and subsequent conservative treatment, used his recovery period to reflect on his future alongside his wife Oriana and their daughter Gia, who was born in Rome last March.
The conclusion he has reached is that the bond with the city and the club is too strong to walk away from.
His return against Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico — greeted with a standing ovation from the Roma supporters — reinforced what the club means to him and what he means to it.
The financial gap between the two sides remains the central obstacle. Dybala currently earns around €15million per season including bonuses — the highest wage on AS Roma's books and a figure the Friedkin Group's ownership is determined to reduce. The American owners have set a target of bringing the total wage bill below €100million.
The working figure for a new deal is around €2.5-3million per season plus performance-related bonuses — a reduction of more than 80 per cent on his current earnings. Roma's sporting hierarchy has justified the compromise on commercial and footballing grounds: Dybala is the club's largest shirt seller and the primary draw for international sponsorship partners, making his departure a loss that would cost far more than it would save.
Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini has also pushed internally for the deal to be done, viewing Dybala's experience and quality as irreplaceable in the short term and urging the board to secure his renewal alongside those of Lorenzo Pellegrini, Zeki Çelik and Stéphane El Shaarawy.
Dybala joined Roma from Juventus on a free transfer in 2022 and has become one of the most loved players in the club's modern history.
The numbers will take longer to align than the sentiment already has. But both sides appear to want the same outcome — and in Roma's experience with Dybala, that has usually been enough.