Chelsea manager Antonio Conte wants to sign a midfielder and a defender with the cash coming in from Brazilian midfielder Oscar’s impending transfer(which just got confirmed) to Chinese club Shanghai SIPG.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Conte aims to re-invest the funds in strengthening his Chelsea team to give them further advantage in the English Premier League title race. The report claims that Fenerbahce’s Simon Kjaer, Roma centre-back Antonio Rudiger, Burnley’s Michael Keane and Monaco right-back Djibril Sidibe are all on the Italian’s shortlist.
Apart from the above-mentioned names, Hoffenheim’s Niklas Sule is also on the Blues transfer shortlist, however, Sport Bild claims that Bayern Munich have agreed a £21m deal to sign the defender next summer.
Chelsea have been shrewd in their transfer dealings in the summer, signing N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso, re-signing cult hero David Luiz and bringing back Victor Moses from his various loan spells. All four players have been integral in the London club’s rise to the summit of the Premier League after an 11-game winning streak.
Reports also claim that the Premier League leaders have scouted Monaco’s defensive midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, while Roma’s Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan, who was rumoured to join in the summer, is still on Chelsea’s radar.
Also Read: Twitter goes wild as Chelsea sell Oscar to Shanghai SIPG
With a host of other players also linked with Chelsea like Paris Saint Germain’s Marco Verrati and more recently Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez and Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez, it remains to be seen what exactly Antonio Conte does in the January transfer window.
The Brazilian, Oscar, failed to break the shackles of his ‘wonderkid’ tag and live up to it after flattering to deceive a number of times with flickers of brilliance during his time with Chelsea. He failed to consistently make the desired impact that many Chelsea fans had expected of him and is now surprisingly moving to China, possibly because of the allure of the immense salary package on offer.
The rumoured value of Oscar’s transfer is believed to be in the region of £52 million with it rising to 60 million after including incentives. His reported salary is close to £400,000 a week, more than four times that of his current £90,000 a week contract at Chelsea.
The 25-year-old Brazilian’s statistics dwindled over the seasons after a bright start where he hit double figures for goals and assists in his first two seasons. In his first full season in 2012/13 at Stamford Bridge, Oscar played 64 games, scoring 12 goals and making 12 assists.
The attacking mid played 46 times in the 2013/2014 season, racking up 11 goals and 10 assists.
However, soon after in the 2014/15 season when Chelsea eventually lifted the Premier League title, he played 41 games but managed only 7 goals and 9 assists. His performance was overshadowed by that of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas.
Last season in 2015/16 he scored just 3 goals in the Premier League and made only 3 assists. A shocking figure considering his bright start. Perhaps, Chelsea are right in shipping the Brazilian off with such a ridiculous deal on offer.
It will remain another classic case of a highly touted Brazilian player peaking early and then fading out into anonymity.
