El Flaco
Active member
I just found a great translation of a article about Douglas Costa's back story before he signed for Bayern.
It's a pretty long text but I think you'll find it very interesting.
It's a pretty long text but I think you'll find it very interesting.
He grew up in Ronaldinho's house and has dedicated his life to search for his idol's footsteps. After getting his home stadium destroyed by mortars, and being rescued from a staged kidnapping, Douglas Costa finally is on the right track. Where it will lead is still unclear but where he comes from is so clear that it irritates Arjen Robben.
After Russia invaded Crimea in the spring 2014, Donetsk airport Sergey Prokofiev International Airport was bombed into pieces. Ukraine was drawn into a war, and the world feared a Europe in chaos. Trapped in the anarchy there were except the locals five Brazilians and one Argentine. Six young guys who moved across the world to search for greatness and success. So unprepared for their new everyday life that some of them even landed in a t-shirt in Donetsk's biting cold.
The billionaire Rinat Akhmetov had flown them in to lift its football team Shakhtar into a European cup success. The South Americans themselves actually wanted nothing more than to get out of there as quickly as possible. Especially when the bombs began to fall. Even Sjachtars home stadium was hit by mortar fire and the team made the decision to move the entire squad to Kiev and play home matches in Lviv. But when the season began in late summer 2014, the team was suddenly without their entire offensive line. Douglas Costa, Dentinho, Fred, Facundo Ferreyra, Ismaily and Alex Teixeira had left the team hotel at two o'clock in the night after a match in Lyon, and had gone on the run. They feared for their lives and refused to return to Ukraine. "I'm afraid. Everything we read, see and hear about the situation in the country is complicated. We do not know under what conditions we can train. If we return, we could be killed. I want to play for the club but would prefer if we trained in Switzerland until the conflict is over", greeted Douglas Costa from a secret location.
Sjachtars response was furious. The president threatened players with that they were under contract and coach Mircea Lucescu pointed out agent Kia Joorabchian as the culprit. "This is Kia Joorabchians work. He tries to exploit the situation. It is kidnapping. The players are young, and he has persuaded them. He has persuaded them by saying that they will soon be free, and then they can go to which club they want. It is an absolute scandal." The players finally came back but Douglas Costa said himself that his days in the club were numbered. Maybe was he really worried for his own safety. Perhaps the agent Kia Joorabchian finally found a path away from the Ukrainian claws of the ambitious talent. What followed was in any case a show of negotiating tactics with both justice but also purely unethical tricks.
Douglas Costa launched himself into an intense flirting session with major European clubs in a seemingly desperate attempt to pump up interest. "I've always liked PSG" was said one day before the Brazilian went on to proclaim that he would "love to work with Jose Mourinho" and had "accepted a bid from Milan in a heartbeat" in the next breath. "I am forever grateful for what Shakhtar has done for me and if I stay, I will continue to give 100 percent but I'm ready to go now. I'm ready for a bigger club."
While his career was underway in Shakhtar, Douglas Costa had also on its own initiative started to go on field trips to other cities. "I lived a few days with Fernandinho in Manchester after we played against United in the Champions League (in December 2013) and really enjoyed it. I also have Willian in London who is a friend for life. But it was not about just checking out the cities, but rather to hang out with my friends. We are always together when we are with the Brazilian national team and I believe it's my turn to also move now."
Whatever Shakhtar was hoping for, Douglas Costa's dreams were never made of a club without a home in northern Ukraine. Because if you are from Gremios football academy, there is really only one wish. "I want to go in Ronaldinho's footsteps. He is my idol. I grew up in Gremio and got to know him. I was close friends with his nephew and we would often play in "Dinhos' house", said Douglas Costa already in his teenage years. "My mother says that I played football in her stomach, and once my parents were told that they would have a boy they knew that I would become a footballer. I can not remember any time I didn't have a soccer ball at my feet. I can no other. I can't even dance samba."
The dream to follow Ronaldinho was therefore self-evident but the risk equally obvious: to accidentally stumble into Anderson's footsteps and through Porto to Manchester United fall straight down into the abyss as one of the football world's biggest flops. Douglas Costa balanced in early age between success and failure. He mixed dazzling efforts with inexplicable mistakes, and Manchester United's scout in South America Jose Mayorga therefore could not decide in which bin he would place the young Brazilian. Was he a new Ronaldinho or were United about to purchase one additional Anderson? "Jose loved James Rodriguez. He always had his name in his reports but his conclusion was that his style did not suit the Premier League. Basically, he was considered to not have the speed required in British football. Chief scout Jim Lawlor had even Maylson higher than both James and Douglas Costa," says former United-scout Marcelo Teixeira.
The Colombian James Rodriguez disappeared to Porto, and has since walked on through Monaco to Real Madrid. The then greatest talent Maylson today plays for Chapecoense in Brazil's lower divisions. Douglas Costa on the other hand continued to balance in the middle of the line between success and endless bottom depth. United did not dare to take a chance while the now 19-year-old midfielder was getting impatient. "I know that Manchester United sent a fax to Gremio and asked them to let me audition. But the heads of Gremio said no, they thought that I was already good enough to play first-team football and that United had to recruit me without a trial. I really liked how Manchester United played and had happily gone there but they were not ready."
U20 World Cup in Egypt was Douglas Costa's last chance to convince United that he was the new Ronaldinho. Despite that the midfielder mostly acted as a substitute, he was from the bench a key player on Brazil's path to second place. "But I was let down by the club when I got back so I never really got the chance to prove what I could do. It was a rather messy start to my career. I used to have two good games and then losing shape. I do not think people understood me and I ended up on the bench. When it was time for a decision Manchester United pulled out and left the Brazilian with two choices: Spanish Villarreal or Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk. Douglas Costa looked for safety. He found it in Ukraine. "I called and spoke with Willian and Luiz Adriano, who both come from my old area of Porto Alegre, and they advised me to go to Shakhtar. When Douglas Costa signed for Shakhtar in 2010, he became the 13th Brazilian that the Ukrainian club bought in only eight years. The club was so focused on Brazilian talent that the coach Mircea Lucescu even spoke Portuguese." "From Fernandinho in the defensive midfield and forward we were exclusively Brazilians. It made communication easier and I adapted myself quickly to life on the pitch."
Off the field the South American group also formed something of a private residential area in Donetsk. There were besides Douglas Costa and Fernandinho also players like Luis Adriano, Eduardo da Silva, Willian and Jadson. Douglas Costa made a few halfhearted attempts to also adapt to the culture. He spent much time in Dontesk malls, tested his Russian and was persuaded to even try to skate. But the dream was never to stay in Ukraine. "I will not stay here a lifetime, maybe one or two years," said the Brazilian when he landed on Sergey Prokofiev International Airport in 2010.
But the midfielder had not known everything. Shakhtar Donetsk is not an easily persuaded club. With oligarch Rinat Akhmetov at the helm, money is never a problem. Milan, PSG, Monaco and Chelsea's attempts to buy Douglas Costa was therefore declined away with his left hand despite of bids of around 20 million euro. The midfielder was forced to remain for five years while friend after friend got his big football dream fulfilled. Willian managed through Anzhi to go all the way to Chelsea. Fernandinho ended up at Manchester City.
"Willian had all those problems and his buyout clause was set at EUR 35 million. If you then know that mine is bigger, around 50 million euros, you can understand that it will be more difficult for me. I have also had talks with teams like Milan and Monaco during my time here but none of them agreed with Shakhtar." Shakhtar demanded the full amount for the nugget. No exceptions. "He has a contract and it does not matter what he wants or asks. If we agree with Chelsea he leaves. Otherwise, he stays here," said CEO Sergei Palkin. Then came the war.
If it was the unrest, the flirt campaign or the strike that did it is unclear but during the year, something happened with Douglas Costa's price tag. From 50 million it decreased the total down to 35 million in the summer of 2015. Then came the fax Douglas Costa had waited for all his life.
Since the transfer to Bayern Munich last summer, Douglas Costa has made success. German press is already talking about that the 25-year-old is going to replace the star Franck Ribery straight and are now speculating that the Frenchman will leave the club rather than to take back his place in the starting line-up. On the other flank Arjen Robben, once so cemented in the line up looks to feel threatened. After the 3-0 victory against Leverkusen this fall Robben scolded out his new teammate in the public after Brazilian ripped the pants off Leverkusen's Julian Brandt in an almost humiliating way. "He must be careful. Many tricks are fine but belong in a circus. You must remember that you also have to show your opponent respect."
But is there anything Douglas Costa has gained in those early years of hunting for Ronaldinho's footsteps, it's the idol's football philosophy. Where artistry is as important as the goals. The joy just as important as the results. During the autumn, the 25-year-old without exaggeration shocked Germany with his technique and speed. "His game one on one is nasty," as coach Pep Guardiola summed it up. Douglas Costa says he can not help it. Something happens when he steps inside the chalked line.
"I'm quite introvert otherwise. I like of course to have fun, but in my own way. I want to be in peace. But I feel completely different when I come out on the pitch. I'm a player that loves to run with the ball. Who loves to dribble." He has not quite found Ronaldinho's footsteps to the very top yet, but fell neither into the Andersons abyss. Instead Douglas Costa found his own way from Gremio to the football's parlor - partly as a result of a war, a kidnapping and an escape. The 25-year-old ball genius is also certain that he found the right path. "I was munching a lot of snow in Ukraine. I matured into a man in Donetsk. Now I stand on my own feet." Then it does not matter if the competitor's Franck Ribery, if the opponent's Arsenal or if the criticism is Arjen Robben. Because now the 25-year-old knows that he is on the right track. Where the road ends for Douglas Costa remains to be shown, but how it all began is clear. Or, as Pep Guardiola responded to Arjen Robben's criticism: "Douglas Costa is no clown. He is brazilian."
After Russia invaded Crimea in the spring 2014, Donetsk airport Sergey Prokofiev International Airport was bombed into pieces. Ukraine was drawn into a war, and the world feared a Europe in chaos. Trapped in the anarchy there were except the locals five Brazilians and one Argentine. Six young guys who moved across the world to search for greatness and success. So unprepared for their new everyday life that some of them even landed in a t-shirt in Donetsk's biting cold.
The billionaire Rinat Akhmetov had flown them in to lift its football team Shakhtar into a European cup success. The South Americans themselves actually wanted nothing more than to get out of there as quickly as possible. Especially when the bombs began to fall. Even Sjachtars home stadium was hit by mortar fire and the team made the decision to move the entire squad to Kiev and play home matches in Lviv. But when the season began in late summer 2014, the team was suddenly without their entire offensive line. Douglas Costa, Dentinho, Fred, Facundo Ferreyra, Ismaily and Alex Teixeira had left the team hotel at two o'clock in the night after a match in Lyon, and had gone on the run. They feared for their lives and refused to return to Ukraine. "I'm afraid. Everything we read, see and hear about the situation in the country is complicated. We do not know under what conditions we can train. If we return, we could be killed. I want to play for the club but would prefer if we trained in Switzerland until the conflict is over", greeted Douglas Costa from a secret location.
Sjachtars response was furious. The president threatened players with that they were under contract and coach Mircea Lucescu pointed out agent Kia Joorabchian as the culprit. "This is Kia Joorabchians work. He tries to exploit the situation. It is kidnapping. The players are young, and he has persuaded them. He has persuaded them by saying that they will soon be free, and then they can go to which club they want. It is an absolute scandal." The players finally came back but Douglas Costa said himself that his days in the club were numbered. Maybe was he really worried for his own safety. Perhaps the agent Kia Joorabchian finally found a path away from the Ukrainian claws of the ambitious talent. What followed was in any case a show of negotiating tactics with both justice but also purely unethical tricks.
Douglas Costa launched himself into an intense flirting session with major European clubs in a seemingly desperate attempt to pump up interest. "I've always liked PSG" was said one day before the Brazilian went on to proclaim that he would "love to work with Jose Mourinho" and had "accepted a bid from Milan in a heartbeat" in the next breath. "I am forever grateful for what Shakhtar has done for me and if I stay, I will continue to give 100 percent but I'm ready to go now. I'm ready for a bigger club."
While his career was underway in Shakhtar, Douglas Costa had also on its own initiative started to go on field trips to other cities. "I lived a few days with Fernandinho in Manchester after we played against United in the Champions League (in December 2013) and really enjoyed it. I also have Willian in London who is a friend for life. But it was not about just checking out the cities, but rather to hang out with my friends. We are always together when we are with the Brazilian national team and I believe it's my turn to also move now."
Whatever Shakhtar was hoping for, Douglas Costa's dreams were never made of a club without a home in northern Ukraine. Because if you are from Gremios football academy, there is really only one wish. "I want to go in Ronaldinho's footsteps. He is my idol. I grew up in Gremio and got to know him. I was close friends with his nephew and we would often play in "Dinhos' house", said Douglas Costa already in his teenage years. "My mother says that I played football in her stomach, and once my parents were told that they would have a boy they knew that I would become a footballer. I can not remember any time I didn't have a soccer ball at my feet. I can no other. I can't even dance samba."
The dream to follow Ronaldinho was therefore self-evident but the risk equally obvious: to accidentally stumble into Anderson's footsteps and through Porto to Manchester United fall straight down into the abyss as one of the football world's biggest flops. Douglas Costa balanced in early age between success and failure. He mixed dazzling efforts with inexplicable mistakes, and Manchester United's scout in South America Jose Mayorga therefore could not decide in which bin he would place the young Brazilian. Was he a new Ronaldinho or were United about to purchase one additional Anderson? "Jose loved James Rodriguez. He always had his name in his reports but his conclusion was that his style did not suit the Premier League. Basically, he was considered to not have the speed required in British football. Chief scout Jim Lawlor had even Maylson higher than both James and Douglas Costa," says former United-scout Marcelo Teixeira.
The Colombian James Rodriguez disappeared to Porto, and has since walked on through Monaco to Real Madrid. The then greatest talent Maylson today plays for Chapecoense in Brazil's lower divisions. Douglas Costa on the other hand continued to balance in the middle of the line between success and endless bottom depth. United did not dare to take a chance while the now 19-year-old midfielder was getting impatient. "I know that Manchester United sent a fax to Gremio and asked them to let me audition. But the heads of Gremio said no, they thought that I was already good enough to play first-team football and that United had to recruit me without a trial. I really liked how Manchester United played and had happily gone there but they were not ready."
U20 World Cup in Egypt was Douglas Costa's last chance to convince United that he was the new Ronaldinho. Despite that the midfielder mostly acted as a substitute, he was from the bench a key player on Brazil's path to second place. "But I was let down by the club when I got back so I never really got the chance to prove what I could do. It was a rather messy start to my career. I used to have two good games and then losing shape. I do not think people understood me and I ended up on the bench. When it was time for a decision Manchester United pulled out and left the Brazilian with two choices: Spanish Villarreal or Ukrainian Shakhtar Donetsk. Douglas Costa looked for safety. He found it in Ukraine. "I called and spoke with Willian and Luiz Adriano, who both come from my old area of Porto Alegre, and they advised me to go to Shakhtar. When Douglas Costa signed for Shakhtar in 2010, he became the 13th Brazilian that the Ukrainian club bought in only eight years. The club was so focused on Brazilian talent that the coach Mircea Lucescu even spoke Portuguese." "From Fernandinho in the defensive midfield and forward we were exclusively Brazilians. It made communication easier and I adapted myself quickly to life on the pitch."
Off the field the South American group also formed something of a private residential area in Donetsk. There were besides Douglas Costa and Fernandinho also players like Luis Adriano, Eduardo da Silva, Willian and Jadson. Douglas Costa made a few halfhearted attempts to also adapt to the culture. He spent much time in Dontesk malls, tested his Russian and was persuaded to even try to skate. But the dream was never to stay in Ukraine. "I will not stay here a lifetime, maybe one or two years," said the Brazilian when he landed on Sergey Prokofiev International Airport in 2010.
But the midfielder had not known everything. Shakhtar Donetsk is not an easily persuaded club. With oligarch Rinat Akhmetov at the helm, money is never a problem. Milan, PSG, Monaco and Chelsea's attempts to buy Douglas Costa was therefore declined away with his left hand despite of bids of around 20 million euro. The midfielder was forced to remain for five years while friend after friend got his big football dream fulfilled. Willian managed through Anzhi to go all the way to Chelsea. Fernandinho ended up at Manchester City.
"Willian had all those problems and his buyout clause was set at EUR 35 million. If you then know that mine is bigger, around 50 million euros, you can understand that it will be more difficult for me. I have also had talks with teams like Milan and Monaco during my time here but none of them agreed with Shakhtar." Shakhtar demanded the full amount for the nugget. No exceptions. "He has a contract and it does not matter what he wants or asks. If we agree with Chelsea he leaves. Otherwise, he stays here," said CEO Sergei Palkin. Then came the war.
If it was the unrest, the flirt campaign or the strike that did it is unclear but during the year, something happened with Douglas Costa's price tag. From 50 million it decreased the total down to 35 million in the summer of 2015. Then came the fax Douglas Costa had waited for all his life.
Since the transfer to Bayern Munich last summer, Douglas Costa has made success. German press is already talking about that the 25-year-old is going to replace the star Franck Ribery straight and are now speculating that the Frenchman will leave the club rather than to take back his place in the starting line-up. On the other flank Arjen Robben, once so cemented in the line up looks to feel threatened. After the 3-0 victory against Leverkusen this fall Robben scolded out his new teammate in the public after Brazilian ripped the pants off Leverkusen's Julian Brandt in an almost humiliating way. "He must be careful. Many tricks are fine but belong in a circus. You must remember that you also have to show your opponent respect."
But is there anything Douglas Costa has gained in those early years of hunting for Ronaldinho's footsteps, it's the idol's football philosophy. Where artistry is as important as the goals. The joy just as important as the results. During the autumn, the 25-year-old without exaggeration shocked Germany with his technique and speed. "His game one on one is nasty," as coach Pep Guardiola summed it up. Douglas Costa says he can not help it. Something happens when he steps inside the chalked line.
"I'm quite introvert otherwise. I like of course to have fun, but in my own way. I want to be in peace. But I feel completely different when I come out on the pitch. I'm a player that loves to run with the ball. Who loves to dribble." He has not quite found Ronaldinho's footsteps to the very top yet, but fell neither into the Andersons abyss. Instead Douglas Costa found his own way from Gremio to the football's parlor - partly as a result of a war, a kidnapping and an escape. The 25-year-old ball genius is also certain that he found the right path. "I was munching a lot of snow in Ukraine. I matured into a man in Donetsk. Now I stand on my own feet." Then it does not matter if the competitor's Franck Ribery, if the opponent's Arsenal or if the criticism is Arjen Robben. Because now the 25-year-old knows that he is on the right track. Where the road ends for Douglas Costa remains to be shown, but how it all began is clear. Or, as Pep Guardiola responded to Arjen Robben's criticism: "Douglas Costa is no clown. He is brazilian."
