- Chelsea have reportedly agreed to let Malang Sarr leave on a free transfer
- Sarr had 12 months left on his £100,000-a-week contract with the Blues
- But the defender, 25, is set to return to France by joining Ligue 1 outfit Lens
Chelsea have reportedly agreed to terminate the £100,000-a-week contract of French defender Malang Sarr 12 months early.
Sarr, 25, signed a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge when he arrived from Nice in August 2020.
That contract was therefore due to expire at the end of the 2024-25 season.
But Chelsea have decided to let him go on a free transfer this summer, according to The Sun.
Sarr is now expected to return to Ligue 1, with L’Equipe recently claiming he was close to signing for Lens.
Malang Sarr, pictured during a 2022 pre-season game, has become a forgotten man at Chelsea
Sarr, pictured during a training session almost two years ago, is set to return to France’s Ligue 1
Since being signed by Frank Lampard, Sarr has made just 21 first-team appearances for Chelsea – including eight in the Premier League.
All of those appearances came during the 2021-22 campaign.
Sarr spent the 2020-21 season on loan at Porto. His most recent match action came for Monaco in the 2022-23 season during another loan move.
After not being included in Chelsea’s first-team squad by Mauricio Pochettino last summer, Sarr spent the entire season training with the club’s U21 side.
Sarr wanted to join Le Havre in January but a proposed loan deal fell through.
Le Havre director Mathieu Bodmer later 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.
Sarr won’t play under new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, pictured at a training session last week
The defender is leaving Stamford Bridge this summer after four years as a Chelsea player
‘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.’
Sources close to Chelsea have refuted Le Havre’s…