Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa has asked his club Shakhtar Donetsk to agree a deal with Chelsea who are the front runners for his signature.
The 24-year-old wideman has cleared the air by saying that he wants to move to Stamford Bridge. Few days back, he said that he is looking forward to play under Jose Mourinho. Reportedly, Costa has also already spoken to his present club to show flexibility in transfer negotiations. It was said that Shakhtar wanted close to £30 million for his services but Costa wanted his Ukrainian club not to price him out to Chelsea.
Costa was quoted saying said: “I put my situation to them and they said they would try to help me. Now, we’ll see if it comes to an agreement. To play at Chelsea is a dream for any player… but really, what catches my eye is the coach. He is very intelligent and has been a successful coach wherever he’s been. This is one of the things that would make me happy to play at Chelsea.”
If Chelsea manages to acquire Costa who is valued at £30m, they might offload Egyptian midfielder Mohammad Salah and German International Andre Schurrle in-order to fund the move. Roma is interested in the Egyptian while German clubs Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund are in the race to sign Schurrle.
Signing Costa would allow Mourinho to rotate his midfielders going into the most crucial phase of the season as Chelsea are currently the league leaders, already earned a spot in the finals of the Capital One Cup and in the UEFA Round of 16 where the Blues are set to face Paris Saint- Germain in February.