Juventus sold a lot of players last summer, but there was one in particular that was more painful than the others.

At the end of July, Argentine prodigy Matias Soule was sold to Roma for a shade over €25m, much to the chagrin of Juventini, Thiago Motta, and the player himself.

“I didn’t expect to leave Juve! Thiago Motta told me: ‘you’re not going to leave here unless you bring us €70m’. He wanted me to stay,” Soule stated in an interview a few weeks after joining the Giallorossi.

“I will show the Juve board that I deserved to stay. I only wanted to join Roma at that point, I was almost in tears when the deal was collapsing”, he told Il Corriere dello Sport.

The recently-sacked Motta was a known admirer of Soule, but it was understood the player needed to be sacrificed in order to bring in fresh funds. 

Juve’s squad needed something of a reboot, and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli was forced to sell off a large array of young talent in order to arm the former Bologna coach with the kind of players he wanted in order to make a title tilt.

In the beginning, it appeared Juve had done some shrewd business. Soule struggled in the capital, and found the adjustment difficult.

Daniele De Rossi was sacked after three games, and Ivan Juric scarcely utilised him, preferring Paulo Dybala and Lorenzo Pellegrini in attacking positions.

Even when Juric made way for Claudio Ranieri, the coach who’s now coaxed the best out of him, didn’t use Soule at first.

After coming in at the end of November, Ranieri didn’t hand Soule a start until a 1-1 draw with Napoli in early February.

Moreover, he didn’t even make it off the bench for four consecutive games in December and January. Following the start against Napoli, he was immediately benched again for the game against Venezia, a slender 1-0 away win.

“It wasn’t easy at the beginning,” said Soule.

“But Ranieri gave me confidence, I feel good and we’ll continue on this path,” he added.

The turning point came in the 1-0 win against Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.

Roma won a free-kick a yard outside the penalty box. With usual set piece takers Pellegrini and Dybala not on the pitch, it was up to Soule.

He stepped up, and didn’t disappoint.

With very little room between Soule, the wall and the goal, an ‘up and down’ wasn’t likely to succeed. So the Argentine opted for a the most sumptuous of chips, skimming the ball over the Parma wall and into the top corner, kissing the post en route.

The technique was exceptional. 

“You don’t see many goals like that,” remarked then-Parma boss Fabio Pecchia, clearly impressed with what he’d seen.

It was the moment that set Soule free, the weight of expectation released. Yet it might not have happened at all.

“When we were stood there with Leandro [Paredes] and with Mancio [Gianluca Mancini], they didn’t want me to shoot,” Soule revealed after the game. 

“I told them: ‘Leave me alone, I scored from the same position last year, leave me’,” he continued.

It was a good thing they listened.

Since then, Soule hasn’t looked back. He’s started every one of the last 10 league games, and is resembling more of the player we saw at Frosinone last season. 

He netted the winner against Empoli, produced assists against Monza and Verona, and scored a firecracker of an equaliser in the Rome derby in early April.

Roma were struggling against their city rivals before Soule ran on to Alexis Saelemaekers’ pass in the centre of the pitch to arch his shot into the top corner with his left foot.

The strike hit the crossbar, bounced down and up, hit the bar a second time and then out. Yet the ball had clearly went over the line and the goal was given.

It was one of the best derby goals in recent times and secured a point for the Giallorossi.

Soule isn’t especially quick, but possesses that Matteo Politano-esque quality of having quick feet that can get him past opposing defenders.

Evidence of his trickery was shown for Eldor Shomurodov’s goal against Verona. Soule received the ball on the right-hand side and glided past Nicholas Valentini merely by shifting his feet in the blink of an eye.

Soule’s shot-come-pass was prodded home by Shomurodov to make it 1-0, and with it another victory.

A week later, Roma travelled north to face Inter at the San Siro and again the 22-year-old was the difference maker, ghosting in between the Nerazzurri’s defence to plant a shot with his weaker right-foot past Yann Sommer.

When the history of the season is written, Soule’s goal could be the moment the trajectory of the Scudetto pivoted from Milan towards Naples.

Again, like in Parma and Empoli, his goal was the winner.

Aside from the fact they’re both Argentine and left-footed, you can see shades of Dybala in Soule. Dybala, even at his peak, was never the most mobile of players, yet compensated with a sharp mind.

Soule is very much in the same mould, and it’s no surprise he idolised Dybala.

“Dybala is an example and an idol that I’ve had since I was a child. I try to listen and learn from the best,” he said recently.

Dybala has been ruled out for the rest of the season after picking up an injury against Cagliari, and Soule’s taken on the creative mantle in his absence.

Ranieri’s been the one to bring the best out of Soule, and now he’s finally showing why Motta really wanted to keep him in Turin.

“He must be practical and quick on his feet, quick with his mind,” said the Roma coach after the win against Inter.

“I always tell him that he has to try and isolate his opponent, and he must do it quickly and now he’s starting to understand. 

“He’s beginning to realise that this is how he can do well in this league. There’s a lot of potential in him.”

Roma are, incredibly, in the hunt for the final Champions League spot after a brilliant 2025 in which they’ve gone undefeated.

They sit two points behind Juventus in fourth with four games remaining.

Should they qualify for Uefa’s premier club competition at the expense of The Old Lady, with Soule more than playing his part, then a penny for Giuntoli’s thoughts this coming summer – the man who let him leave.