Juventus winger Douglas Costa is reportedly on the verge of agreeing to a summer transfer to Brazilian club Gremio – the club at which he started his career. For the player, the move represents a return to his homeland after a trophy-laden decade in European football.
Costa is currently on loan at Bayern Munich from the Old Lady but has only made 11 appearances in the league this season, scoring once and registering one assist. Goal’s Juventus correspondent Romeo Agresti is reporting that the transfer to Gremio will be finalised in the coming days.
Douglas Costa Nearing Gremio Switch
The Winger is Out-of-Favour in Munich
Costa rose to prominence in Brazil in 2008, when he graduated from Gremio’s youth team to make his debut for the senior side. In January 2010, he made the move to Europe, joining Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk.
Shakhtar have a reputation for developing Brazilian talents, and the trend held true for Costa, who earned a move to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2015.
In the time since, the player has split his time equally between playing in Munich and Turin – Costa enjoyed a loan spell at Juventus in 2017/18 and made the transfer a permanent one that summer, before being loaned back to the reigning European champions this season.
However, the 30-year-old appears to have no future with either club, which will allow him to complete a transfer back to Brazil at the end of the season.
Costa to Leave Europe With Glittering Trophy Haul
It is over those spells in Germany and Italy that Douglas Costa became a household name. Renowned for his pace and trickery down either flank, the Brazilian is a three-time champion in both the Bundesliga and Serie A.
Additionally, Costa won five consecutive league championships during his time in Ukraine with Shakhtar, bringing his total number of league titles to 11.
However, the Champions League remained elusive to Costa during his time on the continent. The player was on the books at Juventus when Bayern won the trophy last season but was unable to help the German champions past last year’s finalists Paris Saint-Germain this campaign.
Main Photo
