As “Oscar season” approached, by that we mean the Academy Awards, we got a strong nominee in the category “most over-priced, ridiculous bid for an individual player.” It went to Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning, who reportedly made an offer in February of £58 million to Chelsea for Brazilian playmaker Oscar, the player’s agent told ESPN Brasil.
It’s the same club that just dropped a whopping $56 million on Alex Teixeira (a Chelsea, Liverpool target) from Shakhtar Donetsk. The website transfermarkt.com values Oscar at $42.3 million. Jiangsu’s bid, £58 million, equivalent to $83 million, was just about double!
That was back in February, and now today, after the most expensive summer transfer window transpired, and hiked up the proce of every player even more, Chelsea now have an Oscar deal in place with Shanghai SIPG for £60 million! Wow!
If you’re scoring at home that’s a Chelsea FC club record sale, if and when it’s completed.
Oscar isn’t even seeing first team football at Stamford Bridge right now. So that offer seems like an exorbitant amount indeed. The Brazil international told Globo that the move is “90 percent” done. (Via ESPN FC, who also quote Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte on this topic)
The topic of Oscar came up in the post match press conference following Chelsea’s 1-0 win over last place Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Conte said: “It will be clear in the next days and… ,” before laughing and adding, “I stop!
“I always counted on him because I think Oscar is a really good player. But sometimes there are situations it is difficult to face.”
In other words, Oscar in on his way out, and this will be made official in the next few days.
The January transfer winter opens for business in two weeks and change.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.