Oscar has revealed that he had the opportunity to join Tottenham Hotspur before signing for Chelsea in 2012.
The Brazilian arrived at Stamford Bridge in a £25 million deal from Internacional and would go on to win two Premier League titles with the club.
Oscar departed for Shanghai Port in 2017, becoming one of the first players to make the switch to the Chinese Super League.
Having joined Chelsea as one of the brightest prospects in world football at the time, his decision to leave Europe at 26, in the prime of his career, came as a shock.
However, his time in English football could have panned out very differently as he shares how close he came to choosing a move to Tottenham Hotspur instead.
Oscar does not regret choosing Chelsea over Tottenham Hotspur
When speaking to former Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel on the Obi One podcast, Oscar revealed former Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas attempted to bring him to North London.
“No, I had Tottenham as well, because André Villas-Boas was there. Yes, Villas-Boas was the first one to call me. Wow. I had played with Villas-Boas in China, and he always said, ‘I talked to you, why don’t you come?’ But, you know, Chelsea… I cannot compare. Chelsea is better, so I chose Chelsea. And it was the right choice, because I played good football there, we won some titles that year. So it was amazing.”
Roman Abramovich sacked Villa-Boas just nine months into his three-year contract, but the Portuguese boss returned to management shortly after with Spurs.
Villa Boas oversaw the infamous Tottenham rebuild following Gareth Bale’s world transfer-record sale to Real Madrid, and instead of Christian Eriksen, it very well could have been Oscar arriving in North London.
The 34-year-old is right to be content with his decision to join the Blues; he won four major honours at Stamford Bridge, whereas Villas-Boas lasted only a year and a half at Spurs.
Oscar has not been the only Blue to reject their London rivals, as a year later, Chelsea hijacked Spurs’ move for Willian with former boss Jose Mourinho playing a crucial role in convincing the forward to sign from Shakhtar Donetsk.
While Tottenham got their revenge this summer when Thomas Frank snatched Xavi Simons from under the nose of Enzo Maresca, the Blues are more than well-equipped in the attacking department.
Oscar had a knack of scoring great goals for Chelsea
Throughout his five-year stint in West London, Oscar scored 38 goals in 203 appearances across all competitions for Chelsea.
Although the Brazilian was hardly the most prolific of attacking midfielders, the goals he did score tended to veer on the side of the spectacular.
He won the club’s goal of the season award with a sensational long-range curler past Gianluigi Buffon on his Chelsea debut as he scored twice in a 2-2 draw against Juventus in the Champions League.
Oscar claimed the award once again in 2015 with a fantastic outside of the boot strike to open the scoring in a 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers at the Bridge, on the way to winning his first Premier League title.