Biggest since Del Piero: Sydney FC sign former Bayern Munich ...
Sydney FC have pulled off one of the A-League’s biggest recruitment coups in recent memory, signing former Juventus and Bayern Munich star Douglas Costa as a marquee player for the next two seasons.
Costa, 33, was recently released from his contract by Brazilian club Fluminense and is set to be imminently unveiled by the Sky Blues, sources familiar with the deal told this masthead, in a massive boost to the A-League Men competition.
Douglas Costa celebrates with Cristiano Ronaldo during his time at Juventus.Credit: Getty
Costa, who is currently in Rio de Janeiro, finalised his two-year deal over the weekend and will travel in Sydney to begin training ahead of a likely debut on September 19 in the AFC Champions League 2 against Eastern of Hong Kong.
The tricky left-sided winger will arrive as one of the most credentialed players in Australian club football history and as Sydney FC’s highest-profile signing since Alessandro Del Piero in 2012, bucking a league-wide trend of austerity after the reduction of annual distributions from head office to just $530,000 plunged clubs into financial turmoil.
Costa is a 31-time Brazil international who played at the 2018 World Cup as part of a strikeforce also featuring Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho.
He is highly decorated at club level, having won Italy’s Serie A three times with Juventus, Germany’s Bundesliga three times with Bayern Munich, and the Ukrainian Premier League five times with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Douglas Costa was recently released from his contract at Fluminense.Credit: Getty
He also boasts a huge social media presence, with more than 6 million followers on Instagram, which will bring much-needed exposure to the A-League Men at a critical point in the competition’s juncture - as well as hopefully unlock the support of the city’s sizeable Brazilian community for the Sky Blues.
The key question, as with all such moves for big-name players in the latter part of their careers, will be if Costa can hold up his end of the bargain on the field.
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His 22 appearances for Fluminense this year were mostly as a substitute, and he returned just one assist and no goals before deciding to terminate his contract.
Before that, he spent two years with Los Angeles Galaxy, scoring eight times in 51 games; last season they had their worst-ever finish in Major League Soccer, placing 26th of 28 clubs.
Sydney FC, however, has a strong track record when it comes to marquee players also making positive on-field contributions, and none of them in the past – from Dwight Yorke in 2005 to Del Piero to Milos Ninkovic – could be considered a total bust.
The Sky Blues have shown a sharper interest in Brazilian talent of late, largely due to the well-connected former midfielder Alexander Baumjohann, who is now their director of player management.
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