Shanghai SIPG general manager reveals reasons behind Oscar's Chelsea exit decision

Shanghai SIPG general manager Sui Guoyang has revealed that Oscar's lack of recent opportunity at Chelsea and a desire to return to the Brazilian national squad are the chief motivations behind his big-money move from Stamford Bridge to the mega-rich Chinese Super League (CSL).

Rumours regarding a lucrative £60m ($73.6m) January switch to Shanghai first began circulating earlier this month and Oscar himself later told SporTV that such reports were "90% right" and that the deal only hinged on some undisclosed bureaucratic details.

Chelsea subsequently released a statement confirming that terms had been agreed for a permanent transfer, with The Times claiming that the 25-year-old is set to quadruple his weekly wage and follow Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the third highest-paid player in world football with an annual salary of £20m ($24m) after tax.

He will, however, be immediately bumped down that particular list in the likely event that Boca Juniors striker Carlos Tevez completes a move to Shanghai Shenhua having supposedly been offered a deal worth a staggering £615,000 ($753,000) per week.

Although Oscar started the first five Premier League matches of Antonio Conte's reign, he lost his place in the team following a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in September and has been limited to fleeting substitute appearances ever since. Chelsea's remarkably effective shift to a three-man defensive system has rather accelerated his decline and Guoyang claims that such a frustrating lack of first-team football was crucial to his decision to move on.

"Oscar has fallen out of favour with Conte because he has no place in Chelsea's 3-4-3 formation," he was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. "It played a key part in his desire to leave. He felt terrible to sit on the bench and not be involved. He is so young."

Oscar has previously earned 48 senior caps for Brazil, but was left out of the squad to contest this summer's Copa America Centenario in the United States.

In addition to helping revive a stalled international career, the attacking midfielder's move to East Asia will also see him play under a noted fan in manager Andre Villas-Boas.

The former Chelsea boss, who succeeded Sven-Goran Eriksson on a reported £11m ($13m) per year deal in November, attempted to bring Oscar to Tottenham from Internacional in 2012 but was pipped to the £25m ($30m) signing by his former employers.

"Oscar wants to come back to the Brazil national team," Guoyang added. "Some of his compatriots play in the CSL and they still get called up to the national team. So it helped him to make the decision to move to China. And of course, the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas is a plus. Oscar knows we are an ambitious club."

Guoyang further asserted that the fee for Oscar was actually €60m (£51m, $62.6m) and that Shanghai SIPG's senior management team personally flew to Paris to complete negotiations. Justifying the mammoth price, he insisted that it is "unrealistic" to expect the club to go about such a deal in a different manner given the "huge gap" that currently exists between Europe's major leagues and the CSL.

"If we don't offer €60m, do you think he will bother to come?" he said.