OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa

For weeks, Douglas Costa has been rumored to make the switch from FC Bayern to Juventus, with the clubs supposedly trying to come to an agreement. In the past few days however, it seemed like they were getting closer with Bayern’s CEO saying talks were in fact underway, and were positive.

Well, it’s happened. Douglas Costa has officially made the switch to Juventus in a Beppe Special, loan with option to buy. The initial fee is €6 million with an option of €40 million. He will wear the jersey #11, as seen in the video above.

More details, courtesy of Juventus’ official website:

Turin, 12 July 2017 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with FC Bayern München AG for the temporary acquisition, until 30 June 2018, of the registration rights of the player Douglas Costa de Souza has been finalised for a consideration of € 6 million to be paid within seven days of the FIGC registration execution.

The agreement also provides Juventus the option right, to be exercised before 30 June 2018, for the definitive acquisition of the player at a price of € 40 million to be paid in two financial years. The consideration may increase of € 1 million on achieving given conditions in the course of the duration of the contract.

Douglas Costa made the switch to FC Bayern from Shaktar Donetsk in the summer of 2015 in a €30 million move. He had a fantastic first year for the German side, logging the 6th most minutes on the team.

In a summer where Bayern has seemingly snatched up every player on planet Earth, it seems as though there would be even less playing time for the Brazilian winger, who already saw his minutes decline last season. He will be joining a team where the only natural wingers are Marko Pjaca, and Juan Cuadrado (who’s future at Juventus is not certain, if you believe the latest reports), which should lead to increased playing time.

Costa is a player who certainly cannot be described as a player with some fairly dodgy end product. He contributed 41 goals/assists in his 77 appearances at Bayern over the past two years. What’s even more impressive about that is that those 77 appearances only come out to ~59 total games played, making his output actually quite outstanding for a winger.

On a team looking for a more dynamic attack, Costa seems to be a perfect fit. He would definitely be a fit in both the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations. Whether Max tries him out as a wingback in a 3-5-2 remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t bet on it in an important game.

This move gives Juventus a different type of option up front with his speed and creativity. This opens the door to many new ways of shaping Juventus’ attack next season, and I’m very excited to see how it all plays out.