Manchester United's Talks With Juventus Over Douglas Costa Stalling Over Fee
By Tom Gott
With Manchester United's pursuit of Jadon Sancho yet to yield any significant results, the Red Devils are in talks with Juventus over a possible move for Douglas Costa – but are once again being help up by a selling club holding out for a hefty fee.
Dortmund are adamant that Sancho, who is United's top target for the summer transfer window, will not be sold after United refused to meet their €120m asking price before the German side's pre-season began.
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United remain in negotiations with Dortmund, but with any progress being excruciatingly slow, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has begun to consider other options. One such player is Costa, and Calciomercato report that Juventus and the Premier League side are a 'remarkable' distance apart in negotiations.
The Red Devils are keen to avoid paying over £27m for the 29-year-old, but Juventus are holding out for somewhere closer to the £54m mark.
However, it's not clear where that €60m figure has come from – Calciomercato citing English sources, which English sources cite...Calciomercato. 90min have been tracking reports on the minor saga over the past weeks, and the last notable development appears to have been the rejection of a €30m bid around a week ago.
United have 'made it clear' that I Bianconeri will have to lower their demands if they want to offload Costa this summer, with talks underway in an attempt to find a compromise.
This is not the first time that United have pushed to sign Costa, with Sir Alex Ferguson pursuing the then-Shakhtar Donetsk winger towards the end of his reign at Old Trafford, but Costa never made the move and instead went on to enjoy trophy-laden careers with Bayern Munich and Juve.
However, his role in some of Juve's recent glories has been comparatively small. Costa started just seven Serie A games last season, finishing with one goal and five assists as injuries restricted him to 23 games.
Nevertheless, he remains on United's list of potential alternatives to Sancho, with Bayer Leverkusen's Leon Bailey and Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman both believed to be on Solskjaer's radar as well.
For now, United will continue to push for Sancho with a confidence that a deal can eventually be done, but Solskjaer cannot afford to put all his eggs in one basket and has now cast his net wider.
He turned his attention away from Sancho to strike a £40m deal to sign Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek and is also ready to pursue RB Leipzig's Dayot Upamecano, but United chiefs will continue to work on a deal for Sancho in the background.