The 22-year-old’s mid-season lull is due to the winter weather and fatigue according to the player’s current manager.
Oscar’s early season form was so impressive that Chelsea decided to sell Juan Mata to Manchester United. Since then, however, the Brazil international has struggled, with Eden Hazard the standout performer for Chelsea.
Mourinho insists that Oscar has been producing solid displays, but concedes the players has lost some of his sparkle on the heavy pitches.
“Maybe in the last couple of matches he was not the same, because in the beginning of the season he was the best player in the team,” said the Portuguese.
“He was the player that was really making the difference in the first three, four months of competition.”
“In this moment he’s not being a match-winner, he’s not scoring goals, but he’s not playing bad. Not real problems.”
“The talent is there all the time, but the physical top condition to express the quality he has is not always there.”
“We have to take care of him. He’s a young boy. He’s not a natural physically strong man, suffers with the accumulation of matches, suffers with the difficult weather we had.”
The midfielder was replaced by compatriot Ramires at half-time of the Blues’ 1-0 win over Everton on Saturday.
