Date: 19th November 2013 at 3:00pm
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Brazilian playmaker Oscar has already established himself as a favourite of Jose Mourinho’s at Stamford Bridge and revealed that he tried to sign him for Real Madrid one month before his move to Chelsea.

Oscar moved to Chelsea from Internacional in the summer of 2012 and there was a lot of interest in the 22-year-old at the time as another former Blues manager Andre Villas-Boas was also keen to bring him to Tottenham.

The player told Globoesporte about Mourinho’s attempts to sign him:

“A month before signing for Chelsea I was very close to doing so with Real Madrid. Mourinho said he wanted me.

“They came to watch me in a couple of games but they had the playmaker position well covered and I signed for Chelsea.”

It’s clear that Mourinho greatly admires him and argues that Oscar’s style is much more suited to the philosophy that he’s trying to create than Juan Mata is but I believe his reasoning to be nonsense as none of the great number 10s were noted or criticised for their defensive capabilities and Oscar looks more like a central midfielder, a long term replacement for Frank Lampard, but that is a debate for another day.

As it is Oscar has improved on his debut season for the club and has established himself as a regular playing in 16 games already this season and scoring five goals. He’s not afraid to stick his boot in and for the most part his commitment has been first rate which is a big improvement on last season as he’d often drift in and out of games or be found strolling around the pitch.

He still has a long way to go and it’ll be interesting to see just how good the Brazilian is when he hits his peak. I’m happy for Oscar but I hope Mourinho will focus on the player’s natural ability to create a little more in future as he probably isn’t making as many chances (14) as he should in comparison to Mata (15) despite the latter playing a lot less frequently in the Premier League whilst Eden Hazard has made 22 and hasn’t even gotten out of first gear.

 

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