Rivaldo Urges Douglas Costa to Join Manchester City

With the season finally coming to an end, transfer speculations have been on the increase. Several players have been linked to Manchester City in the last few weeks. Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake remain strong candidates to fill in at center-back. The main area of concern has been the defence, but other positions are also being considered. Leroy Sane’s departure to Bayern Munich has opened up space in the forward line. This has led to links with Brazilian winger Douglas Costa and Valencia’s Ferran Torres.

Although it’s looking more likely that City will secure the signing of the Spanish winger, legendary former Brazilian winger Rivaldo is talking up his countryman’s chances.

“Looking at the transfer market, I think Douglas Costa moving from Juventus to Manchester City would be an interesting possibility,” 2002 World Cup winner Rivaldo said in a recent interview.

“Costa hasn’t played too much at Juve and could find a bigger stage to shine at City as it seems the club is trying to sign him. A professional career is so short it will be important for him to find a new club where he can play more regularly. He is a great player, who I really admire.”

Costa worked with Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich and reports claim the City boss will welcome a reunion at the Etihad Stadium. The highly-rated Brazilian winger has made 100 appearances for Juventus so far after joining the Italian side from Germany. He has contributed 10 goals and 21 assists in those games but has started only seven times this term. With Maurizio Sarri spoiled for choice at the Allianz Arena, it’s unlikely the 29-year-old will find more playing time under the former Chelsea boss moving forward.

A move to City is now seen as one that could work for both parties should the club fail to sign Torres. But that may not happen as the club is reported to be in advanced talks with Valencia to sign Torres.

The 20-year-old is even fueling speculations the deal is as good as done after recently posting a picture on his Instagram story titled “Big things coming..” But the deal is understood to be held up as a result of Valencia’s demand for €40 million with City offering €35 million. City are now considering including academy player Yangel Herrera in the deal as per Marca (via SportWitness).

So it’s unlikely Costa will get a chance to move to City, especially given the fact that he is already 29.