Tottenham gave up hope of signing the Paulo Dybala on Thursday afternoon due to insurmountable difficulties with his image rights and Juventus' apparent reluctance to sell the forward without a replacement.
Spurs were confident they had agreed a fee with the Italian club and found a way to meet the 25-year-old's £300,000-a-week wage demands but the deal petered out hours before the 5pm transfer deadline.
Unlike Premier League players, Dybala's image rights are not owned by his club, but by a third party – the Malta-based Star Image Company, who are demanding a multi-million fee to relinquish them.
Star Image are owned by Dybala’s former agent, Pierpaolo Triulzi.
The situation was understood to be a legal minefield and, although Spurs explored the possibility of sorting the image rights after completing the transfer, that option now seems impossible.
Signing Dybala was always going to be a remarkable coup for Spurs, particularly after United failed in a move for the Argentina international last week.
