According to The Telegraph, Chelsea’s Brazilian attacker Oscar is on the verge of completing a historic transfer to Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG. SIPG made waves back in June by signing Hulk for a record fee of £47.5 millionNea, but Oscar looks set to join his fellow Brazilian and smash that record in the process. The fee for Oscar is reported to be a staggering £60 million, which would make it the eighth most expensive transfer in the history of football.
Exclusive: Andre Villas-Boas makes stunning £60million bid to take Chelsea midfielder Oscar to China in January #cfc https://t.co/ciF0VeOCm0
— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) December 13, 2016
For a bit of perspective, the fee is more than Barcelona paid Inter Milan for Zlatan Ibrahimovic back in 2009. SIPG finished the 2016 CSL season in third place, and they’ve since hired manager Andre Villas-Boas to manage a side featuring the likes of Hulk, Elkeson, Dario Conca and Jean Evrard Kouassi.
The 25-year-old Oscar has been out of favor in Antonio Conte’s evolving Chelsea squad. The attacking midfielder has only started five Premier League matches while failing to register a goal, a far cry from his sensational debut season with the club that saw him score eight goals in 33 appearances.
The Blues have reportedly accepted the bid, allowing Oscar to leave when the January transfer window opens. Oscar himself, speaking with Brazilian network Globo, confirmed his interest in the move: “It’s 90 percent right. It just depends on some bureaucratic details.”
According to The Telegraph, Oscar has already informed his teammates that he’ll be moving to China. Oscar will reportedly nearly quadruple his salary, moving from £90,000-a-week wages with Chelsea to £350,000-a-week at Shanghai.
