Shanghai SIPG sign Oscar for £60m

Chelsea have agreed to sell Oscar to Chinese club Shanghai SIPG for a fee of around £60m.

The Brazilian midfielder will leave Stamford Bridge when the transfer window opens at the start of January, 12 months after compatriot and former Blues team-mate Ramires joined Jiangsu Suning. It is understood he will earn in excess of £500,000 a week.

A Chelsea statement made no mention of the fee, but it is reported to be in the region of £60m – around £41m more than they paid Brazilian club Internacional for the player. It is Chelsea’s record sale, £10m more than the £50m Paris Saint Germain paid for David Luiz in 2014.

 “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.

Oscar arrived in London in 2012 and went on to win the Premier League, Europa League and League Cup during his four-and-a-half-year stay.

The 25-year-old has featured just 11 times since Antonio Conte was appointed, but the Blues manager said this month he was sad to be losing a player who scored 38 goals in 203 appearances.

The image used to announce the signing.

“Oscar is a really good player,” Conte said. “A good player. For me, I was very proud to have him in my squad and have him as my player. I’m proud of his attitude, his commitment and his behaviour, which have been fantastic.

“I have great respect for every decision made by a single player. If you ask me, ‘are you sorry?’, then yes, I am sorry. I must be honest about this. But, also, I understand him and his decision.”

Oscar’s manager at Shanghai will be former Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas.

Chinese Super League clubs have already spent in excess of £350m on players this year, after President Xi Jinping led a campaign to turn China into a footballing power. A host of stars have made the switch to the Chinese Super League in recent years.

Ex-Blues striker Demba Ba is at Shanghai Shenhua while Graziano Pelle swapped Southampton for Shandong Luneng in July for a reported £13million.

Ramires, Gervinho, Hulk and Ezequiel Lavezzi have also been tempted to head to the Far East and more are expected to follow in January.

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