United's Douglas offer rejected

Gremio shun trial idea

By Jon Cotterill   Last updated: 25th June 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

United's Douglas offer rejected

Douglas: United trial snubbed

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Manchester United have failed with a bid to take Brazilian starlet Douglas Costa on trial.

The 18-year-old forward has a reported price tag of around £18million and the player's agent has already admitted that he doubts whether United will come up with a big enough bid to convince Gremio to sell.

United are very keen on Douglas, and have been actively tracking him for more than 12 months.

The price placed on his head by Gremio has not put Sir Alex Ferguson off, but he seemingly needs convincing Douglas is worth such an outlay.

The Scot wanted to see Douglas in action at United's Carrington training HQ for 20 days - but Gremio have shunned this idea, insisting he is too good for such a proposal.

"We have said to them [Manchester United] that this will not happen," president Duda Kroeff stated.

"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.