Manchester United have failed in a bid to take
Douglas Costa on trial as his Brazilian club feel the young forward
has already proved himself.
Douglas has a price tag of around £18million on his head
and his agent has already admitted he doubts whether United will
come up with a big enough bid to convince Gremio to
sell.
United have been tracking the Brazil Under-20 forward for more
than 12 months and are believed to be very keen on signing him but
Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to see the 18-year-old in action at
United's training HQ for 20 days first.
However, Gremio say he is too good for such a proposal.
Their president Duda Kroeff said: "We have said to them
[Manchester United] that this will not happen.
"Douglas is not at the stage where he would go through such a
situation."
Douglas has played less than 20 first-team games for Gremio, but
he has shone for Brazil at youth level, which has seen him attract
interest from almost every big club in Europe.