Hi, everyone. I am a Shakhtar fan from Ukraine. For the last few years I have been following our ex-players careers in Europe (Fernandinho, Willian, Mkhitaryan and this year also Douglas Costa).
I found there was a lot of negativity in the transfer topic regarding Douglas Costa and that many of you have questions about this player. So I am here to clarify some things.
1) When he first arrive to our club, his first games were pure joy. He was quick, tricky and goals he scored with his left foot were spectacular. We were all hyped about him. The thing is - he quickly lost his motivation after a few seasons. There was no fire in his eyes. He was still our main squad option for right wing, he was still playing decent, but without any extra effort, if you know what I mean. And recently (last year) because of those Russian aggression events, our club was... basically, in a very bad position. We sold a lot of key players, we were left without our home (because of Donetsk being in a war conflict centre) and even more to that - we were forced to play in Lviv. Because Arena Lviv was the only good stadium free for games and meeting all UEFA requirements. And for you to understand - Lviv is like anti-Donetsk. Right now we are playing in hostile environment. Imagine Bayern playing their "home" games in Dortmund. Well, something like this. With all that situation in mind Costa was performing with even more stress, with no motivation at all. So when he left for Bayern it was really something we (fans of Shakhtar) were not expecting at all. That is why he is so relived right now, motivated and is playing like that, with full gas on.
But I have to warn you that when he will get used he might as well drop some of that fire in his eyes like he did with us. Maybe not, because definitely Bayern is a dream for every player, while Shakhtar and our shitty league was actually not that good for motivating player to perform.
2) He always played as RW for us. Willian was LW, after he left, we brought Taison for LW position and Costa kept his RW role. Sometimes he would switch side during the game and you could see him playing on the left, but 90% he player on the right wing for us.
3) His left foot is really underrated. The way and power he can curve the ball with it is really spectacular. But his right leg is weak. Decent at very best. I doubt he will develop it, since I see no progress from the very beginning of his career for us and nowadays. I often saw him using rabona trick to cross with his left instead of crossing with his right foot. You will notice it as well, that playing right he will (if given enough time) use his left foot for crosses. His left foot is a pure gold.
4) He can backtrack, he can play some defense. This is something he got to his game under Mirca Lucescu (Lucescu is trying to teach all Brazil players of that aspect of the game, you can see Willian in Chelsea being defensive work dog as well). At first he wasn't even considering defending as an option on the field, but he matured and now he has that ability.
5) He is VERY hotheaded. If something is not going well enough he may lost his mind (and that is when his greed might take place, stupid decisions, wild strikes, silly fouls and etc). If something is going well he can be a little bit overjoyed and do some tricks, fan-dedicated plays and so on. So keep that in mind. I never saw him performing good while he was pissed off. I even saw him crying in anger. Even so he matured in that regard, but still - it is part of his mentality and game.
Feel free to ask questions if needed. I wish Douglas Costa the best luck in Bayern. After all he was one of our key figures for quite a time and we loved him despite his attitude of mostly underperforming for the last few years (because he was still good and I kind of understand him playing with his head lowered)
Razvali kompletno vo najbitnite utakmici godinava, klasika king kong
А тука не ги рачунаме парите од натпреварите во Серија А, парите од стадионот, купот, спонзорствата, продадените дресови итн... Кому му се потребни кинези кога ги имаш Ањели, Марота, Паратичи и Недвед 
