Douglas Costa reiterates his unhappiness at Bayern Munich and hints at summer transfer to risk wrath of club

The Brazilian has already been criticised by the club's president, Uli Hoeness, for his 'desperate attempt to get a higher salary'

Jack de Menezes
Friday 10 March 2017 11:29 GMT
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Bayern Munich's Douglas Costa has once again thrown his future in doubt by hinting at a summer transfer
Bayern Munich's Douglas Costa has once again thrown his future in doubt by hinting at a summer transfer

Douglas Costa has thrown his Bayern Munich future into doubt once again, and risked a second verbal reprimand from the club’s hierarchy after insisting he is not happy with the Champions League quarter-finalists.

The 26-year-old winger scored a lovely curling effort to net the third goal in Bayern’s 5-1 dismantling of Arsenal on Tuesday night, but despite the emphatic 10-2 aggregate victory, it appears that the Brazil international could still be prepared to leave the Bundesliga leaders in the summer.

Douglas Costa has already spoken of his unhappiness at not playing regular first-team football this season, with Carlo Ancelotti using him predominantly as an impact substitute. However, his last outburst brought a stinging rebuttal from the Bavarian’s president, Uli Honess, who accused the Brazilian of attempting to earn himself an improved contract.

Speaking after Bayern knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League for the third time in five seasons, Douglas Costa once again hinted that he will seek a move away from Bayern at the end of the season, with Juventus reported to be interested if he becomes available.

"I speak to the club often,” he said. “We talk about my situation, if I'll stay here or if I have to find another team to play for. I'm not always that happy here. But soon we will find a situation."

Costa’s latest quotes come after he was told in no uncertain terms to halt his “desperate attempt” to earn a new contract on more money, despite only arriving at the club in 2015 in a £21m transfer from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.

Hoeness insisted Costa was mounting “a desperate attempt to get a higher salary. That doesn’t work with us – he can try ten more times, he is certainly not a hardship case”.

And Ancelotti was keen to play down Costa’s supposed unhappiness, and suggested instead that the murmors of discontent were coming from his agent rather than the Brazilian.

"I speak to him regularly, he is satisfied to be here,” Ancelotti has said previously.

"When it comes to the happiness or the sadness of the player, there are agents who maybe want to put pressure on the club, who want to be more involved."

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