Juventus want Douglas Costa to leave this summer (Getty Images)
According to TuttoSport (h/t Daily Star), super-agent Jorge Mendes is negotiating a shock £37m deal to bring Douglas Costa to Wolves.
Douglas Costa is a 30-year-old Brazilian winger who plays for Juventus. His youth career started with Novo Hamburgo in 2001 but moved to Gremio’s academy in the following year.
Gremio gave him his first break at senior football in 2008. He made a total of 30 appearances for the Brazilian side before departing for Shakhtar Donetsk in 2009. It was in Ukraine that he had his most prolific spell. He played 202 times for Shakhtar, scored 38 and provided 40.
Bayern Munich then signed him in 2015 and he was an important part of the side for 2 seasons. In total, he played 77 times for them, scored 14 and assisted 27 more (source – Transfermarkt). A loan move to Juve followed in 2017 which was made permanent in 2018.
The pacy winger has featured in over 100 games for the Italian champions, scoring 10 and assisting 21. He is a regular of the national team as well and has 31 caps and 3 goals to his name.
Diogo Jota joined Liverpool in this transfer window (source – Sky Sports), which means Wolves are on the lookout for a replacement. He was an important asset of the team and it would be hard to replace a player like that.
However, Douglas Costa comes quite close if we are to be honest. Filled with pace and dribbling, Costa can be a great replacement for the side. Much like Jota, he is versatile and can play on either wing.
At 30, he is in his prime years as a forward. He can provide an instant impact. He offers a good option in the wide areas, playing as an orthodox or inverted winger. He is a fantastic dribbler of the ball and his fleet-footed nature is a huge nuisance for defenders.
Wolves should look to get Costa as a replacement for Jota. They may not be like-to-like but he is a much more experienced option to have and would benefit the team.