Why Oscar was preferred to Mata

Many may have wondered why Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho preferred Oscar dos Santos in the number 10 position; and why he even went ahead to sell the prolific midfielder in the January transfer window. Perhaps, this piece may make you see reasons to justify the 51-year-old Portuguese manager.

Oscar dos Santos Emboaba is an attacking midfielder who plays for both Brazil and Chelsea.

He has been criticised by many, and accused of being overrated with Juan Mata cited as a better option at Chelsea and Coutinho for Brazil.

Oscar is never mentioned among the world's finest talents and it seems everyone is always quick to call for alternative names instead of that of the young Brazilian.

Now, let's take a moment to appreciate the things that go unnoticed about Oscar.

He is a player who has established himself as a starter for two great teams like Chelsea and Brazil, from his first year at Europe and his
first season at international level.

He is a favourite for two world-class managers in the persons of Luiz Felipe Scolari and José Mourinho. The later described him as his team's best player this season.

Now, here are some questions we should answer concerning him:
How many players can cover the pitch, tackle, win the ball back, and be the hard worker that Oscar is?

Do you even notice that he always does well in big games? For instance, last year in the Champions League game against Juventus where he netted twice.

There is also denying that when Oscar plays a prominent role in either Brazil or Chelsea's side, they have so far been relatively successful - Brazil have won the Confederations Cup and Chelsea are only two points off the Premier League, having already topped their Champions League group.

We should compare that to how Chelsea finished last season when Oscar wasn't the main man and hadn't established himself.

And we'll see that Mata's absence hasn't really turned out to be a negative thing at all for Chelsea as we all speculated it would be. The team is in fact doing very well, as Willian, Oscar, Eden Hazard were nearly flawless against Liverpool.

Perhaps, with more support, the young and underrated Oscar will lead Brazil and Chelsea to many more trophies.

He will turn out to become one of the best; and most importantly, a quality replacement for the Blues' veteran midfielder - Frank Lampard.