Oscar reveals near Flamengo move, rues outcome: “A shame” | OneFootball

Former Brazil national team midfielder Oscar even wore a Flamengo shirt in 2022 during negotiations

Flamengo came very close to having Oscar as one of the 2022 Libertadores champions. That’s because the midfielder was very close to signing with Mengão that season. Due to the pandemic in China, where he was playing for Shanghai (CHN), the player’s family asked to return to Brazil. He got permission to stay at home, but was not authorized to play for Rubro-Negro.

— I came very close (to signing with Flamengo) during the pandemic, it was a really severe pandemic in China. So I wanted to come to Brazil because my family wanted to be here. We were all locked down there, then the club allowed me to stay here in Brazil for six months. Then I said, “staying idle for six months is f…”. So I started talking to Flamengo, Marcos Braz was there at the time, and he’s friends with (agent) Bertolucci: “Come on, Oscar, stay here training with us. Stay with us for six months” — Oscar began.

— I passed that on to my club. It was Flamengo’s good phase, they had a really good team, it would have been good for me. But then my club said, “no, no way. What if you end up liking it, right?”. I still had three years left on my contract there, so they said they’d rather I stay without doing anything. I didn’t want to fight with them because I had a contract. But it almost worked out, I almost signed for six months, but in the end it didn’t move forward. I had friends there like David Luiz, Filipe Luís, Dorival Júnior… They pushed for me to go, it almost worked out. Such a shame — he added in an interview with ‘Charla Podcast’.

NEGOTIATIONS

As Oscar pointed out, the negotiations were close to a happy ending. Flamengo and the player even agreed on wages, and the midfielder would have arrived for the second half of 2022, when Mengão won the Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil. However, the Chinese side was afraid the player would ‘fall in love’ with the Most Beloved.

As a result, Oscar stayed in China until 2024. The following season, the player signed with São Paulo, the club where he came through the ranks. Due to heart problems, the midfielder announced his retirement at 35, in April 2026.

AUTHOR’S OPINION

— I remember the fans were very excited at the time, because Oscar had good numbers in China. In 2024, he scored 16 goals and provided 29 assists in 39 matches. He would have been the much-desired backup for Arrascaeta. In the end, the scorer of Brazil’s goal in the 7–1 loss to Germany couldn’t perform well in Brazil because of recurring injuries and the heart problem — commented Pedro Paulo Catonho, journalist at Coluna do Fla.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.