It had been reported in 2009 that Man United had offered Shakhtar £8 million for the player, but his then current club Gremio wanted £21 million. After not being able to have a proper look at the youngster, Man United decided that they didn’t want to pay the fee Gremio were asking for. Gremio wanted to sell Costa without any trial, which resulted in him being sold to the Ukrainian side.
After it was announced that the attacking midfielder had joined Shakhtar he said:
“I wasn’t expecting it. I found out from my agent [Cesar Bottega] when I was still on the bus heading to Bento Gonçalves [for training]. I expected something to happen, but I was focused on Grêmio. Now, I have to think of Shakhtar. I am very happy. The club has tried to buy me twice so I hope I’ll meet their expectations”.
Costa reportedly said during a press conference: "If I had the choice, I would still like to play for United.”
"I know definitely that United sent a fax to my club Gremio asking to release me to their training ground for a trial. But the board of Gremio refused their request and said I already had the ability to play at the top level. They wanted United to sign me without trials.
"They were not ready while Shakhtar signed the contract with me on the terms of Gremio."
Costa has been dubbed as the new Ronaldinho but after only recently signing a five-year deal with Shakhtar it isn’t likely that he is going to join anytime soon.
