Recent reports claim that Manchester United are lining up a £40m move for Brazilian winger, Douglas Costa. The 27-year-old is currently spending a season-long loan with Juventus, away from Bayern Munich.
Costa has been on United’s radar ever since Alex Ferguson was in charge but the transfer never materialized. After a disappointing second season with Bayern, Costa has finally found his feet at the Serie A and has highly noticeable in the European stage.
Juventus were in danger of getting knocked out of the Champions League after Tottenham Hotspur filled in the 2-goal deficit in the first leg and broke the deadlock early in the second. Costa played an instrumental role in initiating the attack and even came close to winning his team a penalty which, unfortunately, was controversially denied by the referee.
He has overall managed to score on 3 occasions this season while also setting up his teammates 7 times. Not the most impressive statistic for a highly rated player but one also needs to take into account the adjustment period with a new team.
Costa’s recent run of form even earned him the first team spot for the Brazil national side this weekend with Neymar tending to his ankle injury. His pace and dribbling ability is hard to match up for most defenders and it will come handy for a side who are falling apart at the moment.
The £500,000-a-week-worth Alexis Sanchez has really struggled to justify the amount of money he is pocketing each week. Ever since his arrival in January, the Chilean has managed to score just once and has assisted twice.
His teammates dished out criticism as well during the halftime of the second leg against Sevilla earlier this month. The 29-year-old is a misfit with his high ball-dominant style of play and his reluctance to track back and help on the defensive end.
Sanchez relatively was a lot more effective with Arsenal and under Arsene Wenger’s system than he has been Mourinho. Granted the United manager is not the best in the game in terms of offensive tactics but it was anticipated that by now things would have settled down into place.
The Red Devils are out of the Champions League and are miles behind in the title race. Their bitter rivals and next-door neighbours, Manchester City have eclipsed their seasonal ambitions long ago and are currently looking like the better side.
While Mourinho fights for his job at Old Trafford, it would be wise to restructure the team and shift a few pieces around for the 2018/19 campaign. Costa will be an ideal signing, given Sanchez or at least one of the final-third players makes a club exit next summer.
