Juventus Transfers: Why a move to Brazil is best for Douglas Costa

Born in Sapucaia do Sul — a small municipality in Brazil, Douglas Costa moved to Europe in 2010. He joined Shakhtar Donetsk for a reported transfer fee of €6 million.

The Ukrainian club is quite famous in Brazil for providing opportunities to young Brazilian players. To name a few, Fernandinho, Willian, Luiz Adriano all elevated their individual abilities and got to know the European game while performing for Shakhtar in the first place.

The story, however, was completely different for Douglas Costa as he joined the club after picking up the nickname — “the new Ronaldinho“. He was already a star in Brazil, and that spotlight was reflecting his potential as a football player.

But in Europe, playing football is as important as conditioning a body, which is ideal to relish the hecticness of European games. Otherwise, unwanted injuries are there to spoil a well-crafted career.

In regard to that, Costa was doing well until February 2018 — since when he, as per the records, has sustained 11 different injuries. And for this very reason, Costa’s football career has traveled a different path than what his potential previously promised — it has been a gradual backslide.

How has top-class European football fared Douglas Costa so far?

Signed from Bayern Munich following a successful season-long loan deal at Turin in 2018, Douglas Costa was seen as an integral cog in Massimiliano Allegri’s Bianconeri side at a time. His blazing pace and skill always used to fill Juve enthusiasts with joy and excitement.

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In his first season for the Old Lady (a loan spell from Bayern Munich), Costa flourished, garnering 6 assists and 4 goals from 31 Serie A games. In the subsequent seasons, however, Costa witnessed a steady decline in terms of his playing time, thanks to various injury issues.

Last season, he earned just 7 league starts for Juventus, having suffered from several muscle strains again and again. Bewildered by his downfall, Costa secured another loan move to Bayern Munich last summer.

And despite winning the FIFA Club World Cup with an indomitable Bayern side this season, his personal career has not taken the high road he might have anticipated while making the switch last summer. From 11 appearances in Bundesliga 2020-21, Costa has racked up one goal and one assist — a tally far from ample to keep him at his current job and destination.

Amidst what has turned out to be another injury-ravaged season, it has been claimed that Bayern Munich won’t like to sign Costa on a permanent deal, meaning the Brazilian’s return to Juventus is imminent this summer.

Why does returning to Juventus make no sense?

Recently defeated by a relegation-threatened side, Benevento, Juventus is likely to undergo a major overhaul in the upcoming summer transfer window. They need to build a spine, based on which the club could forge a sustainable foundation and experience success in the foreseeable future.

Now, do you think a player, who has spent most of his recent years on the treatment table, possesses that quality around which Juventus could engineer the core of the team? And when we are discussing injuries, it is worth remembering that the injuries Costa has had endured over the years were mostly related to muscle strains.

And it is said that once a muscle encounters fibre damages, it gets weaker and never becomes as healthy as the last time. For Costa, it is the same. An overwhelming number of injuries to his hamstring or calf tissues has made them more vulnerable to injuries. And apparently, it has been happening to him time after time.

Juventus could certainly not afford a spot in their dressing for a player who is not reliable enough when it comes to availability. Costa’s contract with Juventus is set to expire in June 2022. Bayern apparently has an option to buy Costa on a permanent basis, but they won’t trigger that either. So, in all, Costa’s future seems to be hanging at the periphery of European football.

So, what is next?

Let alone Douglas Costa’s ill-fated injury record, him being an out-and-out winger won’t help Andrea Pirlo’s cause at Juventus.

If spoken frankly, they don’t play with natural wingers but wide midfielders who could facilitate the team both offensively and defensively. And bearing all these conditions in mind, it is now believed that Costa could end up leaving Italy and Europe altogether.

Then, where would he go? Perhaps a move to Grêmio, his childhood club in Brazil, is on the cards, according to a report from Calciomercato.

Plus, the 30-year-old has been intensely tracked by Premier League side Leeds United. It has been claimed that the Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa is a profound admirer of the Brazil-born winger and belives that could play a pivotal part in a newly-promoted Premier League side.

Why moving to Brazil, especially Grêmio, is the most suitable route to normality for Costa

Despite the fact that Douglas Costa’s recent performances haven’t been that inspiring, his name still holds the essence sufficient to attract interest from around Europe. There are even more than enough top-tier teams who would love to pay a reasonable amount of sum to arrange his services.

But should he continue to play in Europe or move to Brazil, especially to Grêmio? All the events that have had developed over the last few weeks suggest that it would be better for his career should he join his childhood club, where he learned the ABC’s of professional football.

At the age of 11, Costa joined Gremio de Porto Alegre. In the following years, he made sure that his extraordinary attributes won’t get overlooked by the coaches in the training centre, and believingly, it didn’t. They thought that they had just discovered a diamond in the middle of a lump of coal.

Scouts from Barcelona, Manchester United, and Real Madrid were all keeping tabs on his progression as the new rule proclaimed that “no Brazilian player can go abroad until he is 18”. That gave Grêmio the time to enjoy the youthfulness of an aspiring superstar.

“We are trying to understand how to do it. We have people talking to his agent,” said Gremio President Romildo Bolzan Júnior a few days back.

With the hope of rejuvenating his footballing career, Costa might seek help from his homeland, where a player’s technicality is valued over his pace. The city that not only plays soccer but adores it like a household deity might get to see their lost “the new Ronaldinho” sooner rather than later.