Alberto Costa, we hardly knew ye.
At least that’s what it looks like — almost virtually out of nowhere, too.
Thursday began with SportItalia’s Alfredo Pedulla reporting that Portuguese giants Sporting CP have submitted a bid worth €20 million for the young Juventus fullback/wingback who arrived at the club this past January. By the end of the day, not only is it looking like a distinct possibility that Pedulla is reporting on once again, Sky Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio is saying that Costa is very much heading back to his home country of Portugal after spending just six months at Juventus — which would mean that a roster that is desperately in need of a fullback suddenly needs one (or two) even more than before.
Just like that — it looks like we’re saying goodbye to Costa after all of 13 appearances between Serie A and the Club World Cup. Not exactly what some might have expected.
The common line in thinking is that the money used from the sudden departure of Costa will be used to essentially fund a signing for another player with roots in Portugal: Francisco Conceição, who has reportedly been very keen on staying at Juventus as the summertime has gone on and the new Bianconeri have tried to sign hm outright from Porto. Juve have already had one fairly low bid for Conceição turned down by Porto over the last few weeks, but they are expected to up their offer by a couple of million euros relatively soon.
Or, if you connect some dots, once they 100% know Costa is heading back to Portugal.
Costa arrived from Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes during the January transfer window in a deal worth an initial €12.5 million. However, the time between his actual signing becoming official and his Juventus debut felt like it might never actually arrive. His first Juventus appearance was off the bench was in the ill-fated Coppa Italia ouster at the hands of Empoli’s B squad. He made just three starts before the end of the season — all of them following the dismissal of the guy who wanted him, Thiago Motta, got fired in mid-March.
Heck, he made as many starts in the Club World Cup as he did in the second half of the Serie A season after he arrived in Italy.
But now it looks as though that’s all he will play in Italy with Juventus as he heads home in what will turn out to be a decent little profit for Juventus after signing and then selling him within a six-month period. So, on that end, it seems like decent business, but when it comes to potential roster construction? Just another thing to address in a summer where it doesn’t seem like money is going to be thrown around as much as Cristiano Giuntoli did 12 months ago.