Oscar has been denied a return to his homeland with Flamengo after Shanghai SIPG curtailed his move back to Brazil.
The former Chelsea man has been playing in China for more than five years after being one of the first high profile stars to head to Asia. The Chinese market was flexing its muscles and spent £67m to acquire the midfielder from the Blues, even though he was very much at the peak of his powers.
Oscar has scored 51 times for the Shanghai outfit, whom he helped win the league in 2019. The 30-year-old had been hoping to secure a move back to Brazil this summer with Flamengo. There was belief that a deal would get done, even if the two clubs did still have to agree terms.
Flamengo's vice president of football, Marcos Braz, had told Brazilian outlet Lance : "I am an optimistic person about signings. I'm in the most peaceful position in the world, especially through the window we made. We want Oscar and understand that it would be important to qualify the cast, but I can't be upset if he doesn't come.
"The Chinese are being very tough because they don't accept him playing for a team in Brazil. I'm not here to create expectations in the crowd, but I'm going to try to hire him until the last possible minute. He wants to play for Flamengo and we would like to have him here."
The desire from the club and the player was so great that Oscar even took pictures in, what he thought would be, his new colours. It would turn out to be nothing more than false hope, however, as Shanghai SIPG refused to let the player go. A loan move had been in the pipeline, but that also never occurred, as the Chinese club chose not to sign crucial documents that would've complete the deal.
Oscar had been allowed to leave China and return home to deal with a private matter, but his current employers were not about to let him leave for another club, despite the player agreeing on terms with Flamengo. Discussions continued for days, but eventually Oscar had to admit defeat on his hopes of a move.
He said on social media: "I would like to thank everyone for the affection and messages received in the last month, especially from all Flamengo fans . I appreciate the interest of Flamengo and the fans, but it was not possible to do so at that moment. I wish the club the best of luck and all the friends I have there for the rest of this season. Thank you all!"
Oscar has made it clear that he wants to leave Shanghai and last year spoke of a return to Europe with Barcelona reportedly keen. He said: "First I have to think on returning to a top side in Europe. I think I will have some opportunities. I hope I can continue to play like I'm playing here, so I know I'll have open doors for me as well."
Antonio Conte made his displeasure known when Oscar moved to China in January 2016, suggesting that he was going for the wrong reasons. He said: "The most important thing for us must be the passion. The passion for football. If you have not got that, it is no good. No good. I repeat: this concept is very important. Before the money must be the passion, the passion for the sport, for football."
Despite that, only last year Oscar doubled down on his decision citing his lack of game time at Stamford Bridge and the quality of life it provided him as justification for his move. He told talkSPORT : “When I moved, it surprised everyone but at the time, I didn’t play too much at Chelsea. I also had, at that time, some offers from other countries. But I decided to come to China.
“I think when I look back at my decision, it was a good decision for me, for my family and for my football. I’ve improved a lot here and have done some things that I haven’t done before. I’m a little bit older now, so if I look back a little bit, for me, it was a good decision."
