Douglas Costa reveals the phone call that made him join Bayern Munich, and his biggest regret

Douglas Costa revealed that a phone call from Pep Guardiola is what paved the way for his transfer to Bayern Munich in 2015. In an interview with DAZN, the Brazilian talked about the rather unconventional conversation he had with the manager back then which made him want to move to Germany.

Before arriving at the Bavarian capital, Costa spent five years at Shakhtar Donetsk under Mircea Lucecsu. Although Bayern failed to clinch the European title under Guardiola, the desire to add a Champions League silverware to his trophy cabinet stimulated Costa's move. Costa said, (via Goal)

Guardiola was the person who made the biggest difference in my growth. He allowed me to play in the right role. He called me and said: ‘We have a plan for your career, are you coming to join us? Are you ready to learn how to play football?’. I replied: ‘Yes, I’m ready’.

Despite the number of Bundesliga titles Bayern won in the past few years, not making it to the final stage of the UCL was a cause of dismay. Costa said,

It was a very sad period for me at Bayern, though. I thought we would make it. Each of us played really well. That team was one of the strongest and most technical I’ve ever played in. Of course, we also have an extraordinary group at Juve, but in that team every one of us was at the top of our game.

The 29-year-old gave a brief blueprint of what the upcoming years are going to look like for him. He is planning to stay in Turin and is aiming for more titles under Maurizio Sarri:

At the moment, I wouldn’t leave Juventus for another team. You feel welcome and free, so I feel very well. I'm so focused on learning from Cristiano, we have one of the strongest players in the world in our team. And if I’m 100 per cent and [Paulo] Dybala is 100%, we can aim for a very high level.