Its a statement of intent. Until now, teams in places like China and the States had slim pickings of proper footballers. They picked up an ensemble of washed out former stars looking for a retirement nest egg, or professional journeymen who never quite made it at the top level. Oscar is probably the first player to break that mould. He is nearing the peak of his career, is proven at the highest level and has won multiple trophies. I doubt Chelsea would've let a useful squad player leave mid season were it not for the silly fee. The very fact that the Chinese club tabled an acceptable bid shows ambition, intent and a determination to make football there huge. It won't happen in our lifetimes though for the same reason it hasn't happened in the MLS despite over 2 decades of pushing for it since they hosted the world cup:
The cultural ties to football across its European heartlands are simply too strong, and perhaps are growing stronger with fans able to travel to every game relatively simply, as well as increases in merchandise sales, TV representation and social media presence. There's no question that China have the money to make it work, but the vast majority of their vast population are vastly impoverished compared to the average sports consumer in the west. China first needs to address its alarming poor-rich divide and it will then have a potential market larger than any in the world sitting on its doorstep.
