A young Brazilian who many believe could develop into the new Ronaldinho still wants to join Manchester United even though he has only recently completed a transfer to Russia’s Shakhtar Donetsk. Douglas Costa, the 19 year old winger who Sir Alex Ferguson sees as a possible replacement for Ryan Giggs, wanted him at Old Trafford for trials in December but Costa’s former club Gremio said no deal. Despite his disappointment, the young Brazilian still hopes to one day have a future at Old Trafford.
The Shakhtar starlet only joined the Ukrainian club in January on a five year deal but has a buy out clause of around £18million that could be activated this summer. Costa has been reported as admitting that given the choice he would still like to play for United and is still hoping that the chance may come again. The Brazil Under 20 international has been compared to Ronaldinho by people who saw both players starting their careers at Gremio.
Ferguson was looking at long term replacements for Giggs and asked the Brazilian club if the left winger could join them on trial in December. Sir Alex was bluntly refused permission but Costa still wants to play for United even though he signed with Shakhtar for a surprisingly low amount of £5m. Gremio had demanded £18m from United which indicates that the buy out clause he has in his contract probably includes a hefty pay out to the Brazilian club as a sell on fee.
At the time of Ferguson’s enquiries the board of Gremio believed that Costa already had the ability to play at the top level and insisted that he should be signed without any need for trials. When United refused, Shakhtar stepped in and agreed to sign the youngster on Gremio’s terms.
Sadly for Costa, his wish of eventually ending up at United may have already gone with Ferguson’s signing this week of Mexico international striker Javier Hernandez from Chivas Guadalajara. The 21 year old attacker has four goals in four games for his country after initially impressing at the Under 20 World Cup.
