Zenit St. Petersburg want to turn Hulk riches into Chelsea midfielder — report

Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg have just received £45 million from China's Shanghai SIPG for the transfer of Brazilian winger Hulk. As his replacement, according to the Daily Mail, Zenit are considering Chelsea attacking midfielder Oscar.

Two seasons ago, Zenit won the Russian Premier League, but they are undergoing a major revamp.  Former Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas is leaving the club, and will be substituted by long-time Shakhtar Donetsk boss Mircea Lucescu. Several key players are expected to leave the club as well, in part due to new limits on foreign players, in part due to the club's failure to qualify for the Champions League.  Two of those players are midfielder Axel Witsel and defender Ezequiel Garay, both tenuous Chelsea targets as well.

Previous rumours around Oscar claimed that Antonio Conte wanted to keep him at the club, and that Oscar himself wanted to stay around and have the chance to play under the new manager. The 24-year-old has three years left on his current contract, and saw a £57.7 million bid made by Chinese club Jiangsu Suning rejected by Chelsea in February.

Although young and talented, Oscar hasn't had the best of times at club or international level. His 2015-16 season performance was quite underwhelming, but that was also the case for most of our first-team players. Nevertheless, selling Oscar in the current transfer window might be a bit premature as hope that Conte could make things click for the player once again still lingers.