Report: Juventus shifting its non-EU focus back to Douglas Costa, away from Danilo

With Juventus signing young Boca Juniors midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur back in the late stages of April, we pretty much knew that the whole non-EU player signing portion of the summer mercato had the chance to get a little complicated.

We’ve sat on that fact for nearly three months now.

Yet even as the summer transfer rumor has kicked into overdrive over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Juventus linked to a pair of Brazilians who fall into the non-EU category, Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa and Real Madrid right back Danilo.

We have two separate reports from Gianluca Di Marzio on Friday, but they both pertain to the same kind of topic.

First, the Douglas Costa side of the equation:

Juventus wants Douglas Costa as part of their forward group for next season. Over the last few hours the Bianconeri have taken concrete steps in their talks with Bayern Munich for the winger's sale. Intermediator Branchini has been working hard in his discussions with the German giants. Juventus are anxious to get an agreement done with Bayern, which at this point hasn't happened after much interest. There is a sense of optimism in the Juventus camp that a loan with obligation to buy can be worked out.

Second, the Danilo side of the equation:

Chelsea have now joined the race for Danilo. While Juventus were actively pursuing the Real Madrid right back they can only sign one more non EU player this summer, and now they're focus is back on Douglas Costa. Chelsea could take advantage of the change of course of the bianconeri and have now started to pursue Danilo.

So, to break things down, we have a handful of different things going on here.

1. Chelsea reportedly want to sign Danilo because of course they can. (I’m sure there’s probably an Alex Sandro joke in there somewhere, too.)
2. Juventus are back in for Douglas Costa after so much of the talk surrounding The Great Winger Hunt of 2017 has been centered around Fiorentina’s Federico Bernardeschi.
3. LOAN WITH (MANDATORY) OPTION TO BUY. BEPPE GONNA BEPPE.
4. Could Juventus really be going after Douglas Costa AND Bernardeschi?
5. Juventus are optimistic that a deal for Douglas Costa could actually be happening.

If the decision is really Douglas Costa or Danilo, which seems more likely to happen? A week ago, it certainly looked like it was Danilo. Now? Who the heck knows. If Juventus are really making progress with Douglas Costa, then pendulum has swung back in the other direction.

There are a lot of “ifs” in that paragraph above, I get that. But then again, it’s the summer transfer rumor season, so there’s pretty much no avoiding the “ifs” in a post like this one.

It’s a decision that Juventus will have to make sooner or later. If it’s Douglas Costa, then there surely has to be some other option at right back that Juve are working on in the background. If it’s Danilo, then Federico Bernardeschi becomes the clear-cut option as Juve’s big-money winger signing this summer.

Now we wait. And hear more rumors. Because hooray for summer...