Former Manchester United defender and recently hired scout, Jaap Stam, has been tracking another Brazilian starlet. Douglas Costa, from Gremio, the same Porto Alegre club that produced soccer phenom Ronaldinho and United’s own Anderson.

According to the players agent, Cesar Bottega, United are prepared to offer as much as £20 million for the 18-year-old attacking midfielder. But Bottega doesn’t feel Douglas is ready to make the switch to a big European club.

“I think that it is too early to transfer to a team like Manchester United, but if they have offered 80 million Reais to Gremio then that is important.” Says Bottega

“I wouldn’t like him to be transferred to a European team yet because when you start to negotiate with teams from the European market like the Italian, English or Spanish, it is not always possible to make your wishes come true and that puts pressure on.”

Maybe the English and US national teams should think about naturalizing a Brazilian or two, but more on that next time.

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