Paulo Dybala

Formidable Argentina footballer Paulo Dybala showed remarkable talent during his rookie year in his native country, which led to a stellar year with the Italian club Juventus and worldwide recognition as a top player. Born Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala in Córdoba, Argentina on November 15, 1993, he began his professional career at the age of 17 with his hometown club, Instituto Atletico Central Córdoba. There, he established himself as a player on the rise, becoming not only the youngest professional league player to score a goal, but also the first to play 38 consecutive games and score in six of them. Due to his Italian heritage (through a maternal grandmother), he signed with Una Sportiva Citta di Palermo, a Sicilian club, in 2012, and made an auspicious debut by leading the team to a win against the Sampdoria club that same year. Dybala went on to score 13 goals and 10 assists in the 2014-2015 season, which minted him as one of the top assist providers in his league. When his contract expired in 2015, Dybala was courted by many of the major European teams; though he had expressed a desire to play for Argentina, Dybala signed with Juventus, a venerable Italian club based in Turin. Again, he posted remarkable statistics from the start, scoring six goals and two assists in his first 16 games. Injuries kept him sidelined for several games in 2016, but Dybala rebounded in the spring of 2016 to finish the season as Juventus' top scorer with 23 goals and nine assists, as well as coveted wins at the Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italiana. During this period, Dybala was calle to play for Argentina during a World Cup Qualifying match against Paraguay in late 2015, but to the surprise of many, was omitted from the country's roster for the 2016 Copa America Centenario tournament. Further controversy erupted when Argentina's manager, Gerardo Martino, who had refushed Dybala for the Copa America game, included him on the 35-man roster for the 2016 Summer Olympics. To the dismay of many, Juventus quashed the invitation, citing that the Rio Games coincided with the launch of the 2015-2016 season.