Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk have signed highly rated Brazilian youngster Douglas Costa – who has been continually linked with a move to Europe in the past couple of months, with world giants such as Manchester United and Milan - from Gremio for a reported fee of €12 million.

Shakhtar have acquired 80% of the player’s transfer rights and Gremio will receive 15% of the transfer fee in the event of Douglas moving on from Shakhtar in the future.

“This transfer was in everybody’s interest. Douglas asked us to sell him and we needed the money to satisfy our creditors,” said Gremio president Duda Kroeff during a press conference.

Costa will travel to Ukraine on Friday and will be presented to the press later this month.

The young midfielder is Shakhtar’s second big signing of the winter transfer window. They have also secured the services of Alex Teixeira from Vasco da Gama.