SHANGHAI PORT’S Brazilian midfielder Oscar might have the chance to relaunch his career in Europe as Barcelona reportedly made a transfer push for the former Chelsea playmaker, who stunned the soccer world to swap English Premier League for Chinese Super League in a massive 60 million euros (US$68.2 million) deal in January 2017. According to multiple media outlets, Barcelona has already made contact with Port to discuss their captain Oscars’ potential move to Camp Nou in the winter transfer window. TNT Sports said that the 30-year-old is understood to be interested in joining the Spanish giants after a successful five-year stint in Shanghai. As one of the brightest stars in the Chinese topflight, Oscar has notched 50 goals and 93 assists in 170 games for Port, guiding the Shanghai powerhouses to a domestic league title in 2018 and a FA Super Cup trophy in 2019. The Brazil international, who also won two Premier League titles with Chelsea, is under contract until November 2024. Port are obviously reluctant to let their talisman leave in this window, but Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca said Oscar would be willing to reduce his salary in order to return to European soccer by joining Barcelona. Despite financial constraints, Barcelona moved early in the transfer market, signing Spanish striker Ferran Torres from Manchester City on a five-and-a-half-year contract Dec. 28. Late Tuesday, Barcelona also confirmed that Philippe Coutinho has completed his loan deal to Aston Villa until the end of the season with an option to buy. Villa will pay about 65 percent of his salary and the move reunites the Brazilian with Steven Gerrard, a former Liverpool teammate who is Villa’s current manager. Coutinho, who will wear Villa’s number 23 shirt, was Barcelona’s most expensive signing when he moved from Liverpool to Spain in 2018 for 160 million euros. ESPN said the 29-year-old refused to leave Barca at first, but a lack of game time and a desire to play World Cup later this year changed his mind. (SD-Agencies) | 