Just after Bayern Munich signed Douglas Costa last summer from Shakhtar Donetsk for over $30M, the Shakhtar manager Mircea Lucescu opined that the then 24-year-old Brazilian was not at the same level as Bayern wide-men Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Just a few months on and there are very few left doubting the ability of Douglas Costa and his value to Bayern Munich. In fact it is not uncommon to hear pundits pronounce the Brazilian as one of the best signings of 2015.

As it turned out Guardiola had little option given that Robben and Ribery have both been battling injuries already this season.

Robben went down early in September while ironically Ribery last appeared for Bayern in a March 2015 7-0 shellacking of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Costa was substituted with 11 minutes to go and few could have anticipated that six months later the Brazilian would have replaced Ribery in heart and minds of so many Bayern fans.

Costa’s impact was immediate with a man-of-match performance in Bayern’s 5-0 opening day Bundesliga demolishing of Hamburg and goals and assists have flowed consistently since.

Douglas Costa also has a cannon of a left foot but his most effective tool is his ability to deliver a killer final pass into the penalty box. With goals scorers such as Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller camped in and around the opposition’s penalty box the combination has fuelled Bayern’s high octane start to the season

Douglas Costa was once again the thorn in Peru's side as the Brazil winger guided his country to a 3-0 win in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night.

The Bayern Munich star scored one and made two as the architect of the five-time world champions' second consecutive home victory on the road to Russia 2018 in Salvador

I think, for most football fans he is the best player in the Bayern Munich right now and one of the best player of 2015 in the word