16 Apr 2015

Major Surprise: Liverpool want 'world-class' £25m playmaker who's like 'Roberto Baggio'. Coutinho-killer?

Another day, another dubious transfer rumour, and this time, Liverpool are reportedly considering a surprise summer move for Chelsea playmaker Oscar.

The Daily Mail reports:

* Liverpool are 'interested' in signing Oscar.

* Juventus and Paris Saint Germain have [also] shown interest.

Once upon a time, Oscar was the apple of Jose Mourinho's eye, but the Chelsea boss appears to be increasingly frustrated with the Brazilian, and this is evident from his history of publicly criticising the 23-year old. Examples:

* Feb 2014: "He's not being a match-winner, he's not scoring goals. The talent is there, but the physical top condition to express the quality he has is not always there"

* March 2014: "He [Oscar] is not a natural physically strong man. He suffers with the accumulation of matches, and with the difficult weather."

* May 2014: "I think he [Oscar] was our best player for months, from August to November or December, but after that he was up and down"

* Apr 2015: Afet substituting Oscar at half-time against Stoke, Mourinho told reporters: "I don’t think he [Oscar] had a bad performance, I just think he was not good enough".

It's never a good sign when a manager publicly labels one of his players 'not good enough', and it seems likely that Oscar - who cost Chelsea £25m - will be on his way out of Stamford Bridge sooner rather than later.

Stats for Chelsea:

* 30 goals/30 assists in 150 apps.
* Goal every 5 games/Assist every 5 games.
* Goal/assist every 2.5 games.

In a recent interview, Brazil boss Carlos Dunga outlined Oscar's main qualities:

"Oscar has technique, reads situations well and is a modern and versatile trequartista. He is strong and also a good lad. He reminds me of Roberto Baggio"

Ex-Chelsea star Pat Nevin is also a fan of Oscar, and after the Blues' victory over Liverpool in November, he praised a different facet of the attacker's game:

"For all his world-class attacking qualities, [Oscar] is also world-class at closing down and tackling high up the field. It was a master class in doing the job of shutting down an opponent".

High praise indeed, but Mourinho's comments about Oscar not being 'naturally strong' and suffering with the 'difficult weather' are big red flags, especially for a player in his third year of Premier League football. Additionally, he is also prone to long spells without scoring/creating. This season, for example:

* Jan 24 to Apr 15: No goals/assists in 13 games.
* Nov 01 to Jan 01: 1 goal in 11 games.

Liverpool already have several attacking players who fail to consistently score/create goals, and Oscar is not (IMO) worth the huge transfer fee Chelsea will inevitably demand.

On a related note: I doubt Coutinho will be too impressed with this prospective transfer. Oscar already keeps him out of the Brazil team, and when on-form, he has the potential to threaten Coutinho's (seemingly) automatic place in the Reds' starting XI.

Worth a bid?

Author:


21 comments:

  1. No thanjs, he's a bit over rated for me

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  2. Coutinho v Oscar,,, coutinho wins all day long, fantastic player

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  3. Why not both in midfield ? they might be really good together with another STRONG midfielder in the mix

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  4. I like Oscar, I think he's a good player and he puts in a shift but for the money Chelsea would want for him, as well as the wages he'd be after, make this a non-starter for me. Funds would be better spent on strikers

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  5. I'd rather stick with Coutinho.

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  6. 12 months ago Oscar was looking the better player of the two. Now though, Coutinho is a potential player of the year contender, has added goals to his game, and his work rate is way beyond what it was. Honestly, I would keep Coutinho all day long, despite Oscar being an incredibly gifted player.

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  7. Its not a problem position so dont see the point, plenty of other areas what need improving first.

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  8. It's a raspberry rather than an oscar for this rumour

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  9. MATA is proving Mourinho wrong at Man U so maybe he is worth a shout BUT I was asked last night who I would choose as the best ever LFC playerr judged on their best form ever and I dont care what you say the answer is Suarez = Yes I know all about Kenny Stevie G etc but Suarez is more talented. Judge them at international level for their countries - same result

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  10. With rotation Couts and another playmaker would get enough time.

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  11. No reason Oscar and Coutinho can't play together behind Studge, there's an argument that they could be amazing together.

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  12. I told everyone that Mata would be a great buy. It's a shame that about 1 full season's worth of ordinary form with United suddenly defines people's opinion of him.

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  13. Mata was player of the year twice at Chelsea, everyone is aware of his ability.

    I believe that Jose probably realised that Mata's attacking leanings couldn't be tamed as easily as Willian for example - a player that is now happy to work like a dog defensively, offering far less than his potential up top.

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  14. Oscar is a very good player but hopefully nobody gives Chelsea anywhere near £25 million for him.

    He was also guilty of the most heinous piece of cheating I've ever seen last season v Southampton. Clean through on goal, 1 v 1, he chose to try to get the keeper sent off instead of just rounding a stricken keeper and rolling it into the net.

    It plumbed new depths really, a player choosing a possible red card for keeper plus a penalty over a gimme goal.

    Maybe he needs to get away from the Sith Lord of the football world - Jose 😜

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  15. At least we know that it doesn't end well for the Darth One.

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  16. Eden Hazard is worth the money not Oscar..........by the way, we already have too many skinny, breakable players.....

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  17. you remain the master of a witty turn of the phrase my man....

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  18. Only if available for 15-20 million. Not a bad option to have in the squad.

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  19. I rate him extremely highly to be honest, on his day he is amazing, very similar to Coutinho, but a bit more power. An attacking 3 of Sterling, Cou and Oscar (any order) supporting Studge would be pretty awesome...

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  20. That was a really odd segue, and one that most of us probably can't answer because many weren't in their football watching/analysing prime when KD was kicking about. In terms of impact to the club, Suarez doesnt hold a candle to the other two, and I suppose KD takes it, he won leagues, Stevie didnt. In terms of completely carrying the team, I would say Gerrard as he did it for longer, with weaker teams. Suarez on I suppose talent or natural ability, but then I've heard arguments for Barnes, Liddell, Owen, Rush, Alonso, Hansen, Clemence, Souness, it all depends what you are judging. So no, the answer isn't suarez, there just isnt an answer.

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  21. Cheers mate.


    I always enjoy the comments and generally good humoured (humored?) banter you get on this site from the regulars, yourself included, of course ;-)

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