The Gabon star joined the Blues from Barcelona last summer, and had a dismal campaign with only three goals in all competitions.

The Blues were aiming to offload him as early as January, and they have now sanctioned his departure on a permanent basis to Marseille.

The club were initially eyeing €6m for his transfer, but have eventually released him on a free transfer with no pay-off agreed.

The Blues have opted to cut their losses on the former Arsenal man and they now await the summer departure of Romelu Lukaku .

Lukaku is currently on the radar of Juventus, but a transfer is highly dependent on the departure on Dusan Vlahovic from Turin.

Once the Belgian heads for the exit door, the Blues plan to utilise the funds for the purchase of a marquee striker before the deadline.

They have been linked with Kolo Muani and Goncalo Ramos lately.

Related

---