Earlier on Saturday morning we covered claims from Calciomercato that Manchester City have €80m ready for Douglas Costa, but it’s tough luck because Juventus aren’t considering a sale unless something absolutely crazy happens.
They’re going to use their buying clause with Bayern Munich and then keep the player.
Coincidentally there’s another Costa claim in Italy today, and this time for Manchester United.
Corriere dello Sport report Jose Mourinho is preparing a ‘maxi’ offer of €85m for the Brazilian, but guess what? Yep, the Italian newspaper have been informed by Juventus there’s no intention to negotiate the player’s sale.
The United claims originate with The Sun (Corriere dello Sport even say so), from an article published two days ago which didn’t feel especially concrete.
It was claimed a move would be made if Juve decided not take up their €40m purchase option, which is a scenario that was never going to happen. Indeed, the Italian club’s CEO Beppe Marotta confirmed on Thursday that of course they’d be using the clause.
And yet Corriere dello Sport have gone big with it on Saturday, put in on their front page, and given it a full page inside.
They fail to mention The Sun said Manchester United would be making the approach to Bayern, probably because it made no sense… and wouldn’t make the story as suitable for feather fluffing.
It all seems to be PR for Juventus, to show how especially clever they’ve been with the deal.
Loaning Costa from Bayern Munich for a fee of €6m, Juve will now make the deal permanent for an extra €40m.
