Fans are usually split on players who decide to move to a club purely for financial reasons rather than sporting ones, but we’re also told that players have to think about their family and their future first so it’s why some very good players have gone to China in recent years.
Oscar was arguably one of the more surprising stars to make the move because he was a regular for Brazil and Chelsea, while he was also in his prime years so you have to think he was still making very good money in Europe.
The Chinese league has collapsed somewhat in recent months with rule changes which made it harder to sign big-money foreigners, and a report from YGfoot via Goal has indicated that Oscar is looking to return to Stamford Bridge.
He does admit that he’s not looking to force the move straight away and that makes sense when you look at the current squad, but his intention to play for Chelsea again is pretty obvious:
“I don’t think about leaving China. There is a great project for me here – but, to end my career, I would like to return to Chelsea.
“I built a beautiful story there and went to the Premier League very young, at a time when fans did not trust Brazilian players that much. I helped change that. I’ll be a bit older when I try this move again but, as I am playing very well, with good stats, I feel there is still a place for me at Chelsea.
“I could take up all this interview talking about the good moments and memories I enjoyed at Chelsea, but I have two others that I appreciate the most: my first hat-trick, against MK Dons, and a game against Arsenal where I did not score but did eight slide tackles. The fans applauded me when I got subbed off and it felt as if I’d scored a hat-trick then too.”
You can tell from those final comments that there is an element of regret in his choice and he really misses life at Chelsea, so it will be interesting to see if he manages to secure that return before he retires.