When Oscar decided to move from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG he shocked the footballing world. A player entering his prime moving to China was unprecedented. Why did he make that decision? What other offers did he have? How good can the Chinese Super League become? And will he return to Europe? We met China's most famous import.
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As far as Europe is concerned, Oscar is a forgotten man.

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A key player for five years at Chelsea, he was an integral part of Jose Mourinho's title-winning team before later falling out of favour with the new coach Antonio Conte. For Brazil, too, he was a
regular starter and alongside the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Willian, part of an impressive group of England-based Brazil stars.
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But in December 2016, Oscar decided to swap the Premier League for the Chinese Super League for around £60million. Then 25, his decision was widely derided in Europe, where he was accused
of throwing away his career in a shameless pursuit of the Chinese Renminbi. Oscar, who is paid a reported £350,000-a-week in Shanghai, is the first to concede that it was a financially-driven decision, but says his family are happy with the move and that people can be quick to judge.

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I was certainly thinking more of my family than my career when I moved here," Oscar tells Rabona.

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"Throughout my career I've had other very good offers from big teams in Europe, but I thought a little more about my family and the fact that I'm still young. People question that I'm too
young to have come here, but I can return. This isn't the last you'll hear of me."

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For Oscar and his family, the move has been a success. His wife Ludmila is happy to be closer to Japan, where she has family, and his eldest child, three-year-old Julia, has started pre-school in Shanghai. But he made sure he called on a few friends to be sure he was making the right choice.

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"My wife is super happy here," says Oscar. "She's of Japanese origin, so she is happy to be in Asia and closer to Japan. She is benefiting from the opportunity to learn more about China. And my
children also adore it here - my daughter is in a very good school here. Shanghai is an incredible city, very beautiful, very international. So, I am very happy.

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"Before I came to Shanghai, I asked my future teammates Hulk and Elkeson, and the coach Andre Villas-Boas how it was around here. I had already played in Beijing with the Seleção, the Brazilian national team, but didn't know about Shanghai. They told me very good things, and they were right! Hulk lives in the same building as me and is always there to help me and my family."

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Oscar recently turned 26, entering a period of his career that should be his peak. The likes of Carlos Tevez, Hulk and Ramires, Oscar's former Chelsea teammate, have all made the move as China has
swept up various big-name players looking for a final payday - but Oscar doesn't fall into that category. Oscar is well aware of the criticism that he moved to China too soon - he disagrees.

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"I also moved to Europe very early, people forget that," an animated Oscar explains. "I was 19 and stayed at Chelsea for five years. I won two Premier League titles and played a lot. I won a Confederations Cup with Brazil too. So although I left very young, I also started very young. I can also return in he future too, who knows. But right now I am very happy to have made this decision."

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While the standard of football in China remains low compared with many leagues around the world, Barcelona looked east when they needed a central midfielder and surprisingly signed Paulinho from
Guangzhou Evergrande, a transfer that would never have happened in 2015 after a largely abject spell with Tottenham Hotspur. Paulinho resurrected his career in China and, for Oscar, that's proof
that players can enhance their reputation in the Chinese Super League.

"I think all the foreign players that come here are at a really high level. China has incredible financial power and sometimes makes offers that are difficult to refuse. Paulinho has gone back to Barcelona and I think here in our team you have Hulk, Elkeson and myself - three Brazilians who definitely have enough quality to still play at big teams in Europe."

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Oscar didn't have to move to China, either. Atlético Madrid were among a clutch of top European teams that made efforts to sign him. And a move to Atlético almost materialised.

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"When I was talking with Shanghai, I was also talking to big clubs from Europe. There was Atlético Madrid, who I almost joined. I liked them very much and what they were offering me at that time.
There was also Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. I had some options, but I opted for Shanghai and afterwards I can still return."

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"I hope that in two or three years time - or when my contract here ends - I can go back to a big team in Europe, because what I like most is to play at a high level. But first I want to help the team
win a championship and conquer some titles."

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Oscar had a difficult childhood, losing his father in a traffic accident when he was three. That left his mother to bring up three children alone in the family home in Americana, Sao Paulo. For Oscar, securing the future of his family in a way he never experienced has influenced his outlook on life, and perhaps goes some way to understanding why Oscar didn't refuse the offer when Shanghai SIPG came calling.

“Every football player and person wants to earn money to help their families. I came from a social background in Brazil that is very poor, we had nothing. But in China I have accomplished it. And
just like I came here, I will be able to return to Europe. No matter what decisions I make, someone will always say it's good or bad. There are always opinions, you know?"

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Oscar has done everything young. After impressing scouts at his local team Uniao Barbarense, he was snapped up by Sao Paulo FC at the age of 12. He made his full debut a few days short of his 17th birthday and by the time he was 19, he had not only married his childhood sweetheart Ludmila, but had been signed by Port Alegre-based tcam Internacional, one of Brazil's most famous clubs. Just two years later he'd joined Chelsea and developed into one of Europe's most accomplished attacking midfielders.

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Oscar has played 47 times for Brazil, including at the 2014 World Cup, and has scored 12 international goals. But his move to China has made him surplus to requirements in the national setup, and he's found himself on the fringes of the team less than a year ahead of the next World Cup.
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"Of course it would be much casier to be part of the Brazil national team ifI were playing in Europe," Oscar concedes. "So here it certainly got a little more difficult. I don't have the same visibility I had when I played in Europe, when I played at the highest level. But my football is the same. However, it is a decision the coach has to make, to do the best for the national team."
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While it's clear that playing in China has brought some disadvantages on the pitch, for now Oscar can only focus on delivering on the pitch. By joining Shanghai SIPG, Oscar has become the face of
the Chinese Super League, and he believes while China has a long way to go, it is on the path to becoming a league that can taken seriously.

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I was pleasantly surprised by the standard of football here and didn't expect it to be such a competitive league. That was surprising. Although Guangzhou Evergrande always wins, all the
matches are very competitive and there are no games you enter and think “Okay, this one's won. It is always competitive.

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"To be honest, I didn't follow Chinese football before I came here but already since I've been here, the games are broadcast around the world. So people are starting to watch more of it and that's great for the league."

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The Chinese Super League has become easier on the eye in recent times and there is a genuine hope that, spearheaded by Chinese president Xi Jinping, it can continue to improve. Oscar believes that the improvements off the pitch are building a foundation for improvement on it.
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"I think that in the last three or four years it has evolved a lot. Off the pitch, the quality of the training centres is improving and the organization is getting better, you can see that. I hope it will
continue to develop because that is what Chinese players and the football fans here need."

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Oscar is not alone in moving to China from Europe. Ezequiel Lavezzi left Paris Saint-Germain for Hebei China Fortune, Ramires and Alex Teixeira joined Jiangsu Suning from Chelsea and Shakhtar
Donetsk respectively, and Alexandre Pato, after various spells in Europe, joined Tianjin Quanjian. And there are many more examples.

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But despite the flood of big names to the Chinese Super League, the league has a rule in place that limits the number of foreigners in each team to three. This often creates a dearth in quality even
within teams, meaning Oscar has found himself with more responsibility for his teammates than previously in his career.

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"The foreign players have a little more responsibility. The Chinese players are very good, but at SIPG we have myself and Hulk, who played for Brazil in the last World Cup, and Elkeson. We are
on a very, very high level and the Chinese players are learning with us, they're developing more and more, but the foreigners of course have a little more responsibility for the team.
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"When I played at Chelsea I only had to think of playing - just playing. John Terry and other more experienced players talked to me. Here it is different. Here it is me who has to tell my teammates during a match "Okay, now it's time to calm a little down. So as a player I've evolved and I think this period could help a lot to be a future captain."

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While the Chinese Super League has experienced exponential growth in the last couple of years, the grassroots level of the game has struggled. The game is eclipsed by basketball as the dominant
participation sport among children and teenagers in China, with the older generation favouring table tennis. Until recently, football in China was a poorly paid career, and players often come to the
game late, something Oscar believes needs to change if the standard of Chinese football is going to improve.

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"I think, there are some young players with talent, but I think not only at Shanghai SIPG, but China as a whole is in need of more younger players. In Brazil, kids start tom play at a high level when
they are 13 or 14. Here in China, they start at 18 or 19 and that's too late. They have to start a little carlier to reveal their talent, because there are a lot of people in China, so there should be some
talent!"

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One area where China is not behind the curve is in their fan culture. China's most traditional clubs such as Shanghai Shenhua and Beijing Guoan have existed since the 1950s and, in a professional
capacity, since the 1990s. These teams are well supported and, even though Shanghai SIPG were only founded in 2005, even they are developing a dedicated fanbase.
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"The fans are really good," Oscar says. “They are very supportive of the team and, wherever I go, people who stop me are very passionate. Football is still relatively new here so the fans are not quite as crazy as Brazilian fans or fans of a big European team. Here they are just starting to become more fanatical."

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But while Chinese football is improving all the time, Oscar admits it may never reach the levels of the Premier League and the other big leagues in Europe. It simply has too much ground to make up,
in his view.

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"I think to reach the level of the Premier League it is almost impossible, not only for China but for Brazil, Portugal, and you could even say Spain, who has a few great teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid but doesn't have the same strength as the Premier League, where all the teams are very good. This is why for China, it's very difficult to reach the level of the Premier League."

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Images by Canopy Films

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