Oscar set for Shanghai move
Record-breaking transfer in Chinese Super League
Chelsea’s Oscar said Friday he was looking forward to joining his “new family” after Shanghai SIPG sealed terms on what will be China’s fifth Asian-record signing in less than a year.
The 25-year-old Brazil midfielder, snared for a reported 60 million pounds ($73 million), becomes just the latest top player in his prime lured to the megarich Chinese Super League (CSL).
He is due to finalize the deal in Shanghai in the “coming days,” said the Chinese club, which is coached by exTottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas.
“I’m very happy to sign to SIPG. This is an important day for me to join to my new family in China,” Oscar said in a video released Friday by SIPG.
As well as Asia’s record signing, Oscar will also become Chelsea’s biggest sale, beating compatriot David Luiz’s 50 million pound move to Paris Saint Germain in 2014.
CSL clubs have already splashed out more than $400 million on players this year.
Chinese teams broke the Asian record three times in just 10 days in the January-February transfer window, and moved it still higher when Brazil’s Hulk joined SIPG for 55.8 million euros in July.
Significantly, Chinese clubs are now competing with European rivals for worldclass players, who are opting for China’s astronomical pay packets over the chance of a career in soccer’s top leagues.
Oscar’s ex-Chelsea teammate Ramires 29, and Alex Teixeira, 26, are other highly rated Brazilians in their 20s to join the CSL for record sums this year.
Other world-renowned players in China include Colombian Jackson Martinez, 30, Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi and Italian Graziano Pelle, both 31.
According to reports, some of the players are now among the highest paid soccer players in the world.
A Chelsea statement said Oscar will join SIPG at the start of the January transfer window, noting he has won the Premier League, League Cup and Europa League titles during his four- and-a-half years at the London club.
“Shanghai SIPG has formally completed the transfer agreement of Brazil soccer player Oscar with Chelsea,” the Chinese club said. “Oscar will arrive in Shanghai in the coming days to officially join SIPG.”
He has been a target of Shanghai’s new manager Villas-Boas since the Portuguese managed Hotspur in the 2012-13 season, but opted to join Chelsea instead.
SIPG finished third in the 2016 CSL season, which ran from March to the end of October, 12 points behind champions Guangzhou Evergrande and five behind secondplaced Jiangsu Suning.
Last week, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, when asked to comment on Oscar’s impending transfer, called China’s financial muscle “a danger for all teams in the world.”
Chinese clubs’ breakneck spending shows no sign of slowing, with Argentine forward Carlos Tevez also expected to move to China when the transfer window opens in January. Rumors also have linked Real Madrid star James Rodriguez to an Evergrande move.