Hansi Flick kept his answer to the question about Douglas Costa general, and yet it was like a watsch’n for the Brazilian. The competition in the luxury squad of Bayern Munich is currently great, said the coach, “every player has to cope and then show the coaching team what quality he has”. With Costa, it became clear that this is not currently the case.
The 30-year-old is experiencing an unpleasant kind of déjà vu in Munich. Even in his first time with the German record champions (2015 to 2017), despite some strong appearances, he had disappointed overall. Mercenary”. And since his return in the summer on loan from Juventus Turin, the winger has not got beyond good approaches. Most recently against Freiburg (2-1), Flick hadn’t even called him into the 20-man squad. This Wednesday (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and Sky) the Munich team will play at FC Augsburg.
“The squad is complete and the quality of the training is very appealing, everyone has to get 100 percent,” said Flick. In the meantime, things didn’t look too bad. Hasan Salihamidzic, “the decisive man” (Costa) in the return campaign, described the returnees as a “weapon in one against one”. The sports director saw in him the last missing piece of the puzzle on the offensive flank, which he thought was “top-notch” with Costa. He played six competitive games in a row in late autumn. At the turn of the year, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claimed in the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport that they were “very happy” with him.
But for an offensive player, Costa’s record with one goal and three assists in 19 missions is poor. His body language sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, Costa is not the hoped-for top-level player. The last-minute access “worked a lot,” said Flick on Tuesday. However, this statement implied that this is currently not the case. And so the paths should soon part again, maybe even this winter. At least that’s what the “Gazzetta dello Sport” reported. According to this, Juventus, where Costa is still tied until mid-2022, could get his loaned player back and give it to a club in England.
“He doesn’t play regularly. His short working hours indicate that a longer stay (in Munich) is unlikely, ”Costa’s advisor Giovanni Branchini recently told the Internet portal tuttomercatoweb.com. However, his protégé has the quality to assert himself at a high level, and in sport sometimes “a week is enough to change a trend”. Uli Hoeneß would probably say that the trend is currently not Costa’s friend.
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