Forgotten Chelsea player terminates £100k-a-week contract and joins new club

'What they did to him was disgraceful'

Having joined from Nice on a five-year deal in 2020, Malang Sarr was highly-rated and tipped to be someone who would be a huge success for Chelsea.

However, the French defender has not played for the London club in over two years.

According to The Sun, Chelsea have agreed to let him leave on a free transfer despite his contract not expiring until the end of the 2024/25 season.

Sarr is expected to return to Ligue 1 with L’Equipe claiming he is close to signing for Lens, meaning he will not play under new manager Enzo Maresca.

The 25-year-old was signed by Frank Lampard but has made just 21 first-team appearances for Chelsea which all came in the 21/22 campaign.

After Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival at the club, he was asked about Sarr and he simply replied: “Who?”

Sarr was left out of Pochettino’s first-team squad and spent the entire season training with the Under-21s.

In January of this year, he was linked with a move away to Le Havre but the loan deal fell through with the French side slamming Chelsea for the disastrous deal.

Le Havre director, Mathieu Bodmer said: “What they did to him was disgraceful. With just a few details still to be worked out, they did a U-turn.

“They gave the youngster the go-ahead to travel, and a financial agreement had been reached for the eighteen months of his remaining contract at Chelsea.

“However, on several occasions, they went back on their agreement, and then gave it again. And once the player had agreed to make a big effort, to come to us on a tiny salary, just to play football, they blocked him.”

It was a situation that left those closest to the player, worrying about his future and the impact it was having on his mental health.

One source said: “I have never seen him as low as this. This is the first time I have seen him like this. He tries to change his mental state, but it is hard when you are not playing.”

Now, it seems Chelsea are going to let the defender return to France to resume his playing career.