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Arsenal and Tottenham ponder move for unsettled former Man Utd target Douglas Costa
ARSENAL and Tottenham have been alerted to the availability of unsettled Brazilian forward Douglas Costa.
Reports claim that the 23-year-old is refusing to return to his domestic side Shakhtar Donetsk because of the volatile state of the Ukraine.
Though far from prolific, Costa has created a glut of assists to help Shakhtar to land five successive Ukraine Premier League titles.
The Brazilian was signed at the tender age of 20 for a modest £4.7m fee and has four-years remaining on his contract.
So any permanent deal is unlikely at the stage - however with Costa's refusal to return, a one-year loan deal could constitute good business for the Premier League duo.
Tottenham have been linked with a move for French international Antoine Griezmann - a player who operates in the same position as the Brazilian.
However if Spurs are unable to offer the £25m required, Costa could prove a good stop-gap until the French international's contract runs down.
Meanwhile Arsene Wenger has had an unusually aggressive start to the transfer window, the £32m capture of Chilean star Alexis Sanchez is evidence of that.
The Frenchman may instead opt to loan an attack-minded player in a similar fashion to last season's disastrous deal for the perpetually injured striker Kim Kallstrom.
Costa had been linked with a move to Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in 2012, but no deal materialised.