New chapter in the strange career of Oscar (30)!
As the usually well-informed transfer insider Fabrizio Romano tweeted, Oscar is set to return to his native Brazil. Accordingly, the midfielder changes from China club Shanghai Port to Flamengo.
A selfie has been circulating on social media since Monday, showing Oscar already in the jersey of the Rio de Janeiro club. According to Romano, only final details remain to be clarified.
It would be another unusual step in the Oscars career!
Rückblick: In 2012, Chelsea paid €32m for the then 20-year-old top talent, who arrived from International Porto Alegre. With the Londoners, Oscar immediately became a top performer. By 2016 he had made 203 competitive appearances, scoring 38 goals and providing 37 assists. He won two championships with Chelsea, the Europa League title and the English League Cup.
His outstanding vision and buttery passes for strikers also take the attacking midfielder far in the national team: in 2015 at the age of 24, Oscar had already played 48 international matches.
The only problem is that nothing else has been added to this day. In the 2015/16 season, Oscar is increasingly pushed out of the starting XI at Chelsea – the first career crisis.
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But: instead of re-proving himself at another top European club lining up, Oscar – then one of the best midfielders in the world – is going to China. The transfer fee of 60 million euros was a world record for a winter transfer at the time.
It’s obvious that Oscar chooses the money over the sporting challenge. He is said to earn 23.5 million euros a year at Shanghai Port – tax-free.
Oscar at the time: “China has incredible financial power and sometimes makes offers that players cannot refuse. Every soccer player or person who works wants to earn money to support their family. I come from a social background in Brazil that is very poor. We had nothing. This is the fruit of my labor.”
Unusual: While many top players leave China after a short time because the cultural difference is too big, Oscar still plays for Shanghai Port – five and a half years now. By taking this unusual step, he has found a second home.
In terms of sport, it quickly becomes apparent that Oscar is actually a size too big for the Chinese league. In 173 competitive games so far, he has contributed an incredible 145 goals (51 goals, 94 assists). He is now captain of the team. In 2021, the happy professional says: “I’m not thinking of leaving China. There is a great project for me here.”
Nevertheless, Oscar was thinking about a return to London at the time: “I would like to return to Chelsea to end my career. I built a beautiful story there. I’ll be a bit older if I try this step again, but as I’m playing very well, with good stats, I feel there’s still a place for me at Chelsea.”
But it turns out differently than everyone – and even Oscar himself – thought.
The move to his home country is apparently only a matter of form. Once again, the Brazilian decides against the sporting challenge – although he is only 30 years old. Again, something other than sporting success is more important to him.
Oscar has been in Brazil for some time with his heavily pregnant wife. His still-club Shanghai Port does not want to put any obstacles in the way of his captain, who led the club to the championship in 2018. Shanghai has released him so that he does not miss the birth of his child. And it’s probably not going back to China anymore…
Oscar 2021: “When I hang up my shoes I want a job in this sport, but one that will keep me in one place. I need to be close to my family and loved ones. That’s what I want.”
You don’t always have to prove to everyone that you’re the greatest in order to have a fulfilling life.
