Oscar’s days in Chelsea might be numbered considering reports claiming the Stamford Bridge outfit are ready to listen to offers for the former Internacional midfielder who has not lived up to his early promise in West London.
Oscar hasn’t been consistent in his performances since moving to Chelsea for £19.35million from Internacional in 2012. The London Olympics football Silver medalist has found it difficult to remain in the starting eleven despite the fact that several other promising attacking midfielders have been sold and sacrificed to make him blossom (Kelvin De Bruyne and Juan Mata).
This season, Oscar has seen his game time further restricted with the arrival of Tenerife born former Barcelona winger, Pedro last summer. This has seen Cesc Fabregas shifted to the number 10, with Pedro and Willian or Hazard playing on the wings. Chelsea have also played with Pedro and Hazard playing in the wing while Willian occupies the number 10. This season, Oscar has scored just three goals in 25 league games registering three assists. He had a better record in the Champions League as he scored there goals in seven games before Chelsea were dumped out in the second round by a Zlatan Ibrahimovic inspired PSG.
In Oscar’s place , Chelsea are believed to be pushing to sign 26-year-old Argentine and former Palermo left-footed attacking midfielder Javier Pastore who has scored two goals in 15 Ligue 1 games registering four assists. Pastore is valued at €30 million by the French capital club and has made 144 league appearances with a return of 25 goals since his €39.8 million move from Maurizio Zamparini’s Palermo (Controversial owner of the Seria A club) in 2009.
Though elegant and technically gifted , Pastore does not seem an upgrade on Oscar as both his goal ratio and big game performances are not convincing. Another factor against the signing is the fact that the Argentine is two years older than the Brazilian and is expensive at €30 million with three years still to run in his contract.
