Why Oscar Is The ONLY Superstar Left In China

over the last 12 months Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in football that has included more than $1 billion on transfer fees over $200 million a year salaries each for Cristiano Ronaldo Karen benzar and Neymar making them the three highest paid players in the world and a not insignificant amount spent on whining and dining FIFA representatives in anticipation of hosting the 2034 World Cup unopposed there is nothing new though about Saudi Arabia's investments in football in 2016 China unveiled a detailed and ambitious plan to become a world football superpower by 2050 by which stage

Chinese president Xi Jinping wanted China to have both hosted and won the World Cup it involved enormous State investments in coaching infrastructure and pitches massive overseas private investment in football club ownership sponsorships and strategic Partnerships and most eye-catchingly of all a raft of bigname arrivals to the previously inconspicuous Chinese Super League involving staggering fees and wages over the next four years China hired 13 top foreign coaches to manage soccer schools with millions of Children built a raft of 50,000 CA plus stadiums many of which are now empty and over 26,000 pictures Chinese businesses and billionaires

heavily incentivized by the state bought up major European clubs like Inter Milan AC Milan Aston Villa Southampton slavia Prague and Palmer along with minority stakes in Manchester City and Atletico Madrid of those eight clubs only one into Milan is still majority Chinese owned and they are owned by debt stricken sooning holding who have been in a state of Perpetual crisis and trying to offload into since 2021 as for the Chinese Super League the likes of Carlos TZ as equal of etsy Hulk paulinho Alex Tesa Jackson Martinez and managers like Rafa bitez Andre Villas boas and

Fabio Capello of all come and gone China's football experiment which was unprecedented in scale investment and ambition lasted for all of four years by 2020 the big name signings hadn't just stopped strict spending limits were imposed on clubs leading to a mass Exodus of high-profile foreigners Chinese investors were encouraged to sell their overseas clubs and actually prohibited from acquiring new ones and a financial crisis implicating some of the country's largest companies sent the Chinese Super League into a death spiral it's not just the players themselves that are long gone though H China Fortune wants the

club of Manuel Pelini as equal of etsy and Javier Mascherano tanhan kwangin who once employed Axel vitell Alexander Pau and Fabio Capello and Jang susing also owned by sooning holding who once brought Brazilian Trio Joe Ramirez and Alex TAA to China in a single transfer window a three of a number of Clubs who no longer even exist Jang Su having been dissolved just months after winning the Chinese Super League title meanwhile eight-time Champions guanga evergrand have been relegated to China League 1 the nation second here through all of this chaos and collapse though there has

been one constant no not xiin ping China's president for life I mean technically speaking you're right of course but I'm referring to former Brazilian International Oscar who was one of the Chinese super League's biggest coups back in December 2016 when he was signed by Shanghai sipg for more than 50 million from Chelsea at the time Oscar was just 25 years old he had already won 48 caps for Brazil made over 200 appearances in 4 and a half years at Chelsea winning The League Cup the Europa League and the Premier League and he was sought after

by the lakes of Atletico Madrid Juventus and both inter and AC Milan over s years on while everything else has crumbled around him with his friends and compatriots like Hulk and pinho having long since departed Oscar remains like some kind of Japanese holdout soldier who believes not that World War II but rather that the battle for the Chinese Super League to become a serious League filled with Superstar is still ongoing but why well having recently been asked that exact question that's what today's video is all about so sit back relax and join me on a

journey to Shanghai the third largest city in the world as we take a look at why Oscar is the last man in China how to reflect upon his controversial career decisions and what it tells us about other players who have recently headed to a different part of Asia with similar motivations it's easy to forget but when Oscar moved to China he was scorned much more heavily by the European press fans and coaches alike than the current raft of players who have signed Mega contracts in previously obscure and still significantly subpar leagues in terms of the

standard of football it was only when researching this video and reading some of the stories from that time that I remembered quite how much vitriola was the Chelsea manager Antonio Conte despite having dropped Oscar That season and significantly reduced his minutes and in spite of the fact that Chelsea received what was a gargantuan fee for him at the time appeared to lambas the Brazilian for his decision when asked about Oscar in a press conference con stated before the money must be the passion the passion for football we started to play when we were children without

money only passion then came money but the passion is more important than money for me if you have not got that passion it is no good that was his own former boss Sky Sports pundit Jamie carger had even less incentive to temper his language describing Oscar's decision as embarrassing writing in his column carer stated quote it is a sad day for football when a player about to enter his prime moves for financial reasons and nothing else the money is astronomical but it's not as though he's earning a pittance at Chelsea this is not a move

to further his career he'll talk about the league growing in China the chance to work with Andre velas boas and the excitement about a new adventure but we all know those words will be nonsense he has gone for the size of the contract nothing else players used to look for a Payday in their mid-30s when their career was coming to an end we all understood that with the riches now on offer in China I could understand a player's head getting turned when he reaches 30 but 25 it's embarrassing that a player would give up his

career and the chance to compete for the biggest prizes in the game just for money end quote you will note I think that both in tone and in language that the response of con and caraga which were far from isolated examples those were just two that I happen to pick out were much harsher than the tenner with which we talk about players who have moved to Saudi Arabia as in the case of china or previously Qatar and the United States it has tended to be older players who have made the move desert side Neymar Karen

benzar Angolo kante and Riad mahrez the League's highest earners are all the so-called wrong side of 30 meanwhile Cristiano Ronaldo is rapidly approaching 40 the closest parallel with Oscar in Saudi Arabia is probably Ruben NE who age 26 left wolver hampson wanders to join alhilal SAA despite it being reported that there had been long-standing interest in him from a couple of European Giants there were one or two murmurs of discontent at ne's decision paps the odd Gran of oh that's a shame but I don't recall any pundits with a national profile for a major broadcaster

calling it embarrassing julan ly accusing him of lacking passion or a collective Cry of greed greed greed that reverberated around the continent as was the case with Oscar even Jordan Henderson who is probably the player who has received the most criticism for his shortlived stint in Saudi Arabia at least here in England those complaints didn't primarily center around football related grievances the lications for his career or accusations of greed it stemmed primarily from the fact that Henderson had portrayed himself as someone with a genuine interest in LGBT rights and representation in football and then moved

to a country and began doing propaganda for a regime that criminalizes and in some cases executes LGBT people let alone welcoming them in football and even then Henderson still had his Defenders people who would make the case that they who would be willing to sacrifice even deeply held beliefs if the price was right which you know does perhaps beg the question of just How Deeply held those beliefs are the tide really began to shift with Henderson though and he seemingly lost all sympathy and support when he gave an interview to the athletic claiming that he

moved to Saudi Arabia to spread football around the world and to be part of a project a project seemingly which involved playing in front of only a few hundred fans at times rather than Jah obscene wages contrary to carer's claims at the time though Oscar did allude to finding China's investments in football intriguing unlike Henderson he was actually remarkably candid and honest about the reason for his move both when it happened and throughout his time in Shanghai Oscar stated bluntly speaking to coffa 90 in 2017 quote every football player or every person who works wants

to earn money for their families I came from a social background ground in Brazil that is very poor we didn't have anything this is the fruit of my work and when I earn this it is because I conquered it end quote there is of course a debate to be had about how much money someone really needs to help their families and to give them a Financial Security that they once lacked and whether one or2 200,000 a week while playing for one of Europe's biggest clubs wouldn't cut the mustard in addition to fulfilling any career Ambitions

rather than the 400,000 a week in China and I guess that is something that we might touch on shortly but one could hardly accuse Oscar of aisc or deceit it should also be said that unlike with someone like Steven Gerard who has also gone down the route of reeling off rehearse lines as to why he is relocated not even to Saudi Arabia in fact but to Bahrain apparently and commutes to the city of damam where alatia based Oscar wasn't a free agent in December 2016 he was t down on a contract at Chelsea unhappy with

his lack of game time under Antonio con having been one of the first names on the team sheet at Stanford bridge for almost half a decade by that stage Oscar wanted to leave but he could only go somewhere if Chelsea accepted a bit Atletico Madrid Juventus inter and AC Milan may all have been interested in fact it is pretty clear that they were but Chelsea were demanding upwards of50 million don't forget this is in the pre to PSG era only two players in World football transferred for that much money in the 201617 season one was

Paul Pogba to Manchester United for a world record-breaking fee and the other one was Gonzalo higu to Juventus who were able to use the money that they received from pogba's sale to sign the prolific Argentine from Napoli after those two Oscar was the third most expensive player on the planet that season and the seventh most expensive footballer of all time joining Shanghai sipg for €60 million e or roughly 52 to 53 million it is sometimes overestimated and this is relevant both to Oscar's move to China and the fact that he has been there quite so

long that agree to which footballers have control over their own lives of course everyone has control over their own lives well I mean you could argue that no one does if you don't believe in free will but I'll try to stay clear of philosophical quandra for the time being but basically I don't want to infantilize footballers or absolve them of responsibility over their own decisions nonetheless it is just straightforwardly true that footballers like a lot of athletes delegate a lot of their life decisions to other people footballers can turn professional and earn lucrative sums of

money at a very young age at which point they might be very dependent upon their parents for guidance and advice it's not long before Agents come into the picture at which point Everything Changes at least depending upon the relationship between the player and the agent using Oscar as the obvious case in point he was the typical case of Brazilian flla to fame and stardom at a very early age Oscar was just 3 years old when his father died in a road traffic accident with his mother pregnant with Oscar soon to be sister at the time

without his father Oscar's mother sought to sustain the family by selling clothes in the streets of sou Paulo which provided meager an existence as one would imagine Oscar's ability with the ball at his feet then was his family's ticket out of poverty unluckily he had it in Spades at the age of 13 he signed for sa Paulo and four years later at 17 he made his debut in the first team Oscar was still only 18 when he had his first contract disput and his agents advised him to seek a move elsewhere Oscar's Representatives claimed that

sa Paulo hadn't paid salaries as promised and that Oscar's contract was therefore null and void advising the teenager that he was free to leave Oscar joined brazero Rivals interational prompting sa Paulo to Lodge an appeal claiming that they still owned his playing rights and that he ought not to be able to play for international that dispute was eventually settled with International paying sa Paulo €6 million e to make the problem go away but it was just a glimpse of what was to come for Oscar and a reality for a lot of footballers Oscar his senior

debut for Brazil 5 days after turning 20 and he was still only 20 when he moved to Europe joining Chelsea for between 20 to 25 million he has spoken since his moved to China about the fact that as with a lot of players he isn't even typically aware of whether a club is interested in him Oscar's agents Juliano baluchi whose other clients include the likes of Bruno gibber Gabrielle magalies and Matas kuna filters out interest in Oscar before communicating any offers with him this sounds nefarious and predatory and of course it can be but when

speaking candidly about his own relationship with baluchi Oscar was Keen to emphasize that it is because he knows his agents so well and their relationship is so good that he trusts him to make those kinds of decisions that is just one form of Delegation though it's also underestimated the extent to which some players particularly those from countries and cultures where extended family are much closer than is typically the case in Western Europe aren't just supporting a wife and children but grandparents cousins and distance in-laws and that's just family members many such players also have either

entourages who often travel around with them or friends they are supporting back home before long and again I don't want to create a stereotype or paint with too broad of a brush because this isn't the case with say every player from Africa or South America but in some instances they can end up almost supporting entire communities off the back of their astronomical salaries we know that around 40% of footballers go bankrupt within a few years of retiring from the sport or at least we should all know that because I've made a video about it it's

sometimes asked how one person can possibly burn through quite so much money in such a short period of time the reality however is that it often isn't just one person but burning through that money it can be several or even tens of people and it isn't necessarily over a short period of time it's likely been happening throughout a player's career bankruptcy just arrives once the income dries up in retirement I should stress none of this is specific to Oscar there is as far as I'm aware absolutely no suggestion that he or anyone else has squandered

the enormous riches that he has acquired in China it's just to provide some additional context as to the multiac realities within which many footballers exist I remember when RL falow joined Monaco in 2013 at a time in which he was probably the most highly rated and sought after Center Ford in the world a lot of people are asking why he hadn't signed for RA Madrid Barcelona Bayern Munich or Manchester United it was an incredible signing for Monaco who had just won promotion from leaga but it seemed like a bizarre move for falow who surely had

The Pick of every Super Club in Europe was it all just about cash well yes and no falca like a lot of South American players particularly at that time was under third party ownership he had little control over his next destination in truth other than having to sign the contract to sanction it and Ned Atletico Madrid English clubs were reportedly hesitant to deal with third parties following West Ham's TZ and Masher debacle that saw them sued by Sheffield United meanwhile Real Madrid were reportedly unwilling to stump up the60 million euro fee the only Club as

you've probably guessed by now that was willing to pay the60 million e to sign fala pay him €1 million EUR a season after tax and deal with third parties was Monaco the idea therefore that falow had the pick of every team on the continent and still chose to sign for little old Monaco a newly promoted leun team with hardly any fans was based on a misconception as are so many grievances when it comes to transfers another interesting thing that you note when you chart Oscar's journey in China and all of the various interviews that he

has made over the last seven years is his desire throughout that time to one day return to Europe unusually following such a big move and as what was really a Marque signing for the Chinese Super League Oscar was again very candid about that intention even when he first signed for Shanghai sipg in that same interview with coper 90 from 2017 Oscar stated quote I hope that in 2 or 3 years time or when my contract here ends and I've help the team to win titles I could go back to a big team in Europe because

what I like most is to play at a high level adding when I made the decision to come here I was thinking more of my family than of my career I had other very good offers from Big teams in Europe but I thought a little more of my family and after that I am still young I can return end quote Oscar's aspirations to return to Europe to play at the highest level and to get back in the Brazil squad have never wavered and he has reiterated it on an almost annual basis whether that be talking

to European Chinese or South American Media his snubbing from Brazil's national team since moving to China in particular seems to hurt Oscar was one of the first names on the team sheet for Brazil it is early to mid 20s in 2013 and 14 he made 32 appearances for the salosa famously scoring the consolation goal to end all consolation goals in Brazil's 71 humiliation to Germany on home soil in the 2014 World Cup semifinal you might say Oscar was naive to think that he could retain his spot in the Brazil squad while playing in Shanghai and

increasingly he would appear to agree but he had good reason to think that he would still be considered at the time following years as a stalwart Oscar missed the 2015 copper America with a thigh injury but Diego tardelli who was 30 years old and had only ever won nine caps of Brazil was named in dunga Squad despite having spent the last 6 months starring for Shandong Lun in China of the 2016 copper America Oscar missed out due to poor form following a dreadful title defense in which Chelsea finished 10th and everyone struggled in their squad

but again Shandong Lunen Center back Hill and Beijing gu midfielder ronato austo still made the cut dunga was replaced as Brazil coach by Chi chain 2016 now and though he continued to call up and indeed play ronato austo who went to the 2018 World Cup that was thought to be because chich knew him in and out having had him for two and a half years in Brazil with Corinthians Oscar had no such relationship with Brazil's new head coach and playing in China he failed to catch his eye in it is a reality that has gradually

dawned on Oscar whose responses when asked about a potential return to the national team have gone from being impassioned and determined to almost sad melancholic and despondent he hasn't given up on returning to the Brazil team the ca have a long and story track record of recalling players following years in the wilderness and in the Autumn of their careers but he appears to be resign to the fact that it won't happen while he is in China the fact that Brazil have called at five players who now playing Saudi Arabia over the last 12 months alone

including their star man and his old teammate Neymar isn't lost on Oscar who feels as though he has perhaps been unfairly singled out for his move to a league with an inferior standard of football that has likely been one of the big motivating factors in Oscar's repeated attempts to leave China rarely on a permanent basis but temporarily to try and prove to Brazil the rest of the world and perhaps even to himself that he can still compete and star at the highest level none of these attempts though have proven to be successful the most high-profile

perhaps came not all that long ago in January 2022 when Barcelona expressed an interest in signing him Oscar didn't exactly play hard to get telling TNT Sports quote it had be an incredible opportunity for me for Barcelona 2 I'm in great form here it would be great for my career end quote the club of Ronaldinho r Ronaldo Romario and raldo Barcelona holds a special place in the heart of many Brazilians and for Oscar it was a dream move he was so determined to make it happen at a time in which Barcelona were having bitter difficulties

even just registering players due to ongoing financial difficulties Oscar was willing to take a huge pay cut and perhaps even briefly vacate his pay in order to play for the club but alas it wasn't to be a combination of barca's internal shenanigans and reluctance on the part of Shanghai soon put pay to that Prospect likewise in the summer of 2022 when Brazilian Giants Flamingo came calling again only looking to take Oscar on loan during the Chinese super League's offseason the man himself was Head Over Heels Oscar had been given special dispensation by Shanghai ports formerly

Shanghai sipg during the covid-19 pandemic well football in China had been suspended and a strict lockdown implemented to return to Brazil he flew to Brazil again following flamingo's interest which progressed to such a stage that Fabrizio Romano tweeted that it wasn't undal and Oscar even uploaded a photo of himself posing in the flamingo shirt though Shanghai had given a verbal agreement for Oscar to join Flamingo nothing had been signed and at the last second they pulled the plug according to sources close to Oscar who know him well Shanghai changed their minds at the final minute

because they feared that if Oscar returned to Brazil even only on a short-term basis got a taste for playing at a better level of football in front of Brazilian crowds again he might not want to return to China and see out the remainder of his contract every time that a move is fallen through Oscar hasn't disguised his frustration but nor has he thrown his toys out of the pram or appeared to be at war with Shanghai amidst links with Barcelona in 2022 Oscar stated I suppose bar would also appreciate it as I'm now more experienced

mature and I know they have a lot of youngsters right now it could work out for everybody I'd be happy if things work out but I still have a contract Shanghai helps me a lot so I have no complaints end quote it's the type of comment that Oscar makes a lot praising or at least acknowledging Shanghai and careful not to appear to be disrespectful towards the club that has made him for 7 years now con consistently one of the highest paid footballers on the planet if you ask some it's evidence that Oscar is practically in

a hostage situation Barney Ron wrote a column in the guardian in July which was titled Oscar's Chinese Purgatory offers players cautionary Tale in Saudi boom era which made the case that Oscar is effectively stuck in China that's true in a certain sense of course he is under contract at Shanghai port and as his previous attempts to go out on L and illustrate he cannot go anywhere else without their permission that's not to say that he is there against his will though to all in sense and purposes and though not without caveat Oscar appears to genuinely

enjoy life in Shanghai unlike a lot of players who went to China and treated it like a holiday or at least solely as a short-term Revenue generating activity leaving their families back home and regularly commuting between their temporary homes and wherever they're from Oscar and his family made Shanghai their new home Oscar is married to his childhood sweetheart lud Miller who is Brazilian Japanese and they have spent the last 7 years living together in Asia compared to the 4 and a half years that they spent together in Europe it's not unimaginable then in fact it

would seem quite probable that to them Shanghai feels like home more so than anywhere in Europe and perhaps even in Brazil at this stage which Oscar Left Behind as a 20-year-old boy of course if l still has family in Japan Shanghai is also less than a 3-hour flight from the Japanese Capital compared to 14 hours from London and more than 24 hours from sou Paulo their son was 1 year old when they moved to Shanghai it is the only home that he's ever known and their daughter was born there whereas Carlos TZ never saw anywhere

in Shanghai other than the inside of the honga stadium which has since been badly burnt in a fire and Disneyland Shanghai so so much so that he was actually nicknamed Disney by unimpressed Chinese supporters Oscar's children speak fluent Mandarin as does his wife and Oscar says that he speaks enough to muddle by preferring to speak English and having his 8-year-old son translate for him whenever he gets stuck without wanting to engage in Chinese or CCP propaganda that is the job of the 50 Cent Army online Shanghai as Oscar has reiterated numerous times is a very

livable City especially when you earn over2 million a year after tax in a city with an average income of less than £2,000 in terms of the football also Oscar may miss playing for big clubs and tasting the big occasions but it's clear that he enjoy certain aspects of playing in China in their own way it must be said the standard in China is bad I suspect that less than 5% of people watching this video will probably have watched a Chinese Super League game or even highight in the last few years but let me assure you

it's not good there is a reason why China an NA of 1.4 billion people just got knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup group stage without scoring a single goal by 2030 it's worth noting president XI and the ccp's aim was for China to already be an Asian powerhouse on par with South Korea and Japan that's just 6 years away now their men's team is currently ranked 79th in the world World on par with Luxembourg Zambia and Jordan unlike a lot of players who went to China though and grew frustrated with the standard of football

and the fact that they were so much better than their teammates Oscar while not immune to the occasional bout of irritation has embraced it for what it is according to coaches he enjoys setting the standard in training as a Premier League winner and former Brazilian International showing his teammates what it takes to become a top professional last season Oscar led the Chinese super League's assist charts for the fifth time in Seven Seasons as Shanghai Port won their second Super League title since his arrival and they're first since 2018 Oscar Captain the club to that crown

and will Captain them again next season which gets started in March and he seems to relish being a big fish in a small pond and the attention that it brings the rest of the team also unlike a lot of Chinese clubs there has been practically no tension at Shanghai Port between Oscar and the rest of the team despite the enormous disparity between his salary and everyone else's one of the key reasons why Oscar went to China and is still in China is simply timing he joined Shanghai Port then Shanghai sipg at the peak of Chinese

investments in football hence his60 million euro transfer fee and a pay packet that reportedly quadrupled the not insignificant salary that he already earns at Chelsea Oscar subsequently signed an extension which is in itself I would argue somewhat evidence that he was at least relatively content in Shanghai at the time Penning a new fouryear deal in December 2019 within months on the orders of she and the CCP and aided by a crisis in the property sector that exposed several private companies as being dangerously leveraged most notably the ever Grande group China began to strip back investments

in football both at home and abroad as I have covered in far greater detail into two previous videos should any of you be interested in the specifics relating to that decision and its consequences The Following Season the league introduced both a cap on overseas players and on salaries mandating that no overseas players could be paid more than 3 million EUR a year a hefty sum no doubt working out at around £50,000 a week but someway shy of the astronomical contracts that the likes of Oscar and Hulk had previously signed Oscar basically snuck him with his

contract extension just before China scaled back investments in football with a record-breaking 4-year deal which sees him earn somewhere in the region of £400,000 a week or2 million a year in 2020 Forbes estimated that Oscar was the 10th highest paid footballer on the planet even when taking endorsement and image right deals into account sandwich between Robert levandowski and David de Gea after tax others estimate that he may even have been in the top five somewhere between Killian mbappe and Muhammad Salah it would be foolish to pretend that Oscar's continued Sky High salary just as it

was in December 2016 isn't still a major reason why he's in China but he is estimated to have earned more than 140 million in wages since then if he hated it he could and would almost certainly have left and left as an incredibly wealthy man you might have thought that Oscar earning several times as much as the rest of the Shanghai Port Squad combined including their only confirmed overseas player for 2024 matus Vargas could cause some resentment as it did at several other teams at Shanghai however there is said to me an understanding and appreciation

that Oscar is that much better than everyone else that their salaries cannot be compared and overall his presence in the team benefits everyone though the lack of pressure on Oscar in China is a negative in some respects it can also be perceived as a positive not only is Oscar able to live a very easy life both personally and professionally he doesn't have to worry about enraged Ultras battering down his front door following at her feet speaking recently about the experiences of his friends and former teammates Willian and ronato austo who faced threats and intimidation from

Corinthians fans after returning to Brazil in 2021 prompting Willian to returned to England with Fulham Oscar has admitted to having reservations about joining a Brazilian team speaking to our score last month he stated quote playing in the country has its good side but also has its downside every team faces pressure that's normal but in Brazil it's going a bit too far some supporters threaten families and that makes us think carefully about the decision to be made not only mine but all players who are abroad this sec SEC aspect is a bit more difficult for those

of us who already have a stable life outside of Brazil to make a decision there is the upside of affection when you're winning but if you have a bad game the negative pressure is enormous I closely followed William's case I see what rato and others go through at Corinthians and they are not in a good phase the pressure is enormous it's difficult to know what will happen there is the negative side and the positive side the positive side has cases like Hulk and others who came from abroad and were spectacular end quote it might have

been forgotten after 7 years Heck if you're watching this and under the age of 15 or 16 you'll probably barely remember oscar but he was a brilliant footballer I always likened him to a poor man's or a bch Kaka and I mean no disrespect to BCS there just to be clear I'm only using it as a commonly understood term in so far as Oscar was fast athletic he he had neat and tidy feet and he could both score and create goals as impressive off the ball as he was on it which is why Jose morinho

loved him so much at Chelsea and played him ahead of prime Juan Mata I can't help but think that Oscar would have been even better suited to English and European football the way it has adapted since he departed for China you think of his profile combining incredible work rate a high-intensity press and astute Technical and creative abilities and you imagine him fitting seamless ly into say a Jurgen klopp Midfield at Liverpool among others there is a sadness there then no doubt both on the part of Oscar and of football fans but the situation is not

black and white it is possible for Oscar to be very personally and to a certain extent even professionally content in China with a settled family living an amazing life and earning unimaginable sums even in a league that wasn't that strong to begin with has since Fallen apart and where no one else earns even a small fraction of what he does all while being tinged with a persistent if not constant nagging feeling of what might have been what he could have achieved and most notably what he might have been able to do with the national team

who haven't been resplendant in outstanding number eights which is what Oscar has become in China over the last 7 years Oscar has 11 months left on his contract at Shanghai port and will it seems likely stick around for the 20 24 season it seems equally unlikely that Oscar will stick around beyond that point though settled or content as he his family may be given that he would at best be forced to take an 87.5% pay cut and will by that stage have spent eight years in China by then Oscar will be 33 years old a

return to the national team seems unlikely if not impossible the level of European teams likely to be interested in him unlike in 2022 is likely to fall someway below Barcelona whether that proves to be as tempting or Oscar banks on having returned to Brazil more akin to hulks than willians the former of whom has been electric even age 37 since joining Atletico mono remains to be seen wherever he ends up Oscar's eventual departure will feel like a very belated bookend for a bizarre era of Chinese football of which Oscar is virtually the last remaining morsel

of the fact that it ever even happened a cautionary tale for States and Leagues with equal ambition with billions having been spent what has actually been gained Chinese football is effectively back where it was 12 or 13 years ago with a spluttering of relatively well-paid foreigners propping up the Top Flight teams with funding crises and routine collapses and the national team stuck in the Dos still at least TZ had a good time at Disneyland that that is it for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching hit the like button if

you enjoyed it let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course goes without saying make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on for both this Channel h7s and also my second Channel Alie Bots armor both of which should be on or about to appear on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might fancy watching after this one you can also find me on Twitter Instagram or threads via the username at hitc on all three should you wish to do so and all of those links

plus a whole lot more should be down in the video description below cheers