Douglas Costa Of Shakhtar Donetsk Subject Of £20m Bid From Chelsea FC
With all eyes on the speculation surrounding the stalemate between Chelsea FC and Fiorentina for the high profile transfer of Juan Cuadrado, reports have surfaced that the Blues are keeping their options open in the form of Douglas Costa from Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk.
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Chelsea have already seen a £16m bid for the winger/attacking midfielder rejected by the Ukrainian side, although Costa has made it clear that a move to west London would be a ‘dream’ come true, telling Brazilian newspaper Globo Esporte:
"It’s a dream to play for Chelsea, a unique opportunity. I am trying to negotiate."
Indeed, the pressure will be on the player to help force the move along as Chelsea are reportedly planning on upping their bid to £20m, although Shakhtar have made it clear that they expect the Blues to meet their ludicrously high £30m valuation of Costa. To put this in perspective, for a player who’s shown plenty of quality in a tougher league, Cuadrado’s release clause is only £26.8m.
The 24-year-old Douglas Costa has only scored twice in eleven appearances this season in all competitions; once in the Ukrainian Premier League and another in the Europa League. This is a lackluster haul for one of the best players on one of the best teams in Ukraine.
Similarly to the Cuadrado transfer, any movement for Costa will likely be dependent on whether or not Mohamed Salah and/or Andre Schurrle leave Chelsea for greener pastures. It is also more than likely that Cuadrado and Costa would not be signed together and, instead, would be a plan A or plan B situation.
Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, would remain unfazed if none of these transfers materialize before the end of the January window. The manager prefers not to shop midseason and would rather the squad stay the same for the remainder of the campaign, stating:
"The club doesn’t move, we don’t move, our desire is to keep the same squad…We are happy with the players, we are happy with the work we did in the summer to prepare for the season, [it] reflects the trust we have in the group and, if possible, we don’t want to be involved in the transfer window."
As for Andre Schurrle, according to the boss, it would take a immensely large figure to pry the German away from Stamford Bridge. Mourinho was quoted on the subject:
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"The principle is that we would like him to stay. The question is not to be allowed or not allowed. The question is to have a phenomenal offer and a player to be super keen of accepting a new challenge in his career. We don’t want to sell our players."
Shakhtar is known to be a difficult partner when it comes to transfer negotiation — similar to Benfica — and Douglas Costa himself is thought to be ready to move on from the Ukrainian Premier League. It will be interesting to see whether or not the club will budge on their asking price or if this deal will simply fall through.