When will Oscar play again? São Paulo's hopes for his return explained | OneFootball

When will Oscar play again? This is one of the questions São Paulo fans have been asking the most lately. The midfielder, the club’s most high-profile signing for the current season, recently recovered from a fracture in three lumbar vertebrae, but has yet to receive any playing time from coach Hernán Crespo.

Oscar has already been listed for two São Paulo matches, against Fortaleza and Palmeiras, but remained on the bench on both occasions.

After the elimination in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores, Crespo commented on Oscar’s absence, taking a pessimistic tone regarding the player’s short-term return.

“Since Oscar suffered this injury, he hasn’t had any possibility of playing up to now. We’ll see. I hope that maybe, by some miracle, he’ll be available before the FIFA break, if not, then afterwards. He’s hardly trained at all. We can’t include him. He can walk, but he feels pain,” said the São Paulo coach.

After this statement, Oscar was made available to Hernán Crespo before the October FIFA break, but did not have the opportunity to take the field. The expectation is that he will start to get some minutes from the coaching staff in the coming weeks.

Because of the fracture in three lumbar vertebrae, Oscar had been training with the ball, but did not participate in team training sessions due to the possibility of heavy contact during activities. The midfielder still feels some pain, and for that reason, the coaching staff has been more cautious regarding his return to the pitch.

Oscar is not the only one being treated with care at São Paulo. Lucas Moura, who also recently recovered from arthroscopy on his right knee, is in a more advanced process and has already played a few times in recent weeks, but is still far from the level he has previously shown in the tricolor shirt. Patience will definitely be key for both stars of the squad.

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