MANCHESTER UNITED are ready to pay the £79million required to land Douglas Costa should Juventus fail to take up the option to to sign him.
The Brazilian, 27, joined on loan from Bayern Munich last summer and has been one of the Serie A champions’ stand-out players this season.
Juventus paid £7m up front and have an agreement in place to sign him for a further £33m — which they are still expected to take up.
However, they are desperate to strengthen in other areas, particularly in central midfield, and have yet to make an official announcement on whether they will pay the agreed fee for Costa.
Should they opt against following through, United would be willing to meet Bayern’s asking price which would be more than double their agreed fee with Juventus.
Presently, the chances of Costa ending up at Old Trafford stand at 40 per cent, with the likeliest outcome still that he joins the Old Lady in a permanent deal.
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Massimiliano Allegri wants to keep the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk winger and the player is happy in Turin, but the board are weighing up their options with regards to which areas of the park need most work.
The club have made it clear that next season’s priority is winning the Champions League above Serie A — and in order to do that, they want to bring in a top class central midfielder.
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Paul Pogba and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic are the two dream targets, but both would likely require bids of around £100m.
Juventus are also interested in bringing back Alvaro Morata from Chelsea, while Matteo Darmian is almost certain to complete a move and Alex Sandro is expected to leave.
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