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Having failed in their attempts to sign Iliman Ndiaye from Sheffield United, Marseille quickly switched their attention to Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Left behind in England by Mauricio Pochettino, the Gabon international is training with the likes of Hakim Ziyech and Armando Broja in London, as they all miss out on pre-season.

This has left the Chelsea player with a chance to sort out his future, which seems very close to being spent in the south of France, as explained by La Provence on Wednesday.

The local newspaper reveal that Marseille have ‘accelerated’ their efforts to get the 34-year-old over the past day or so, having agreed a three-year contract with the veteran.

While they first thought the forward could arrive on a free with his contract at Chelsea being terminated, the Premier League side are actually asking for a fee of €6m to get a deal done.

Marseille, not wanting to waste time, seem to have agreed to this, because the operation ‘should conclude with a transfer’, with that amount being paid.

Therefore, that means that Alexis Sánchez is unlikely to return and, ‘barring a last minute complication’, Aubameyang will be the club’s new leader in attack.

However, Goal France’s Marc Mechenoua provides an update on Wednesday afternoon, claiming that Marseille have actually managed to convince Chelsea to simply free Aubameyang and not pay a fee.

We’ll have to see who ends up being right, but the bottom line is, Aubameyang is leaving Stamford Bridge.

It’s a big risk from Marseille, since there’s no denying the forward has lost a yard of pace and will need to adapt his game to Marcelino’s tactics, but there is still a good finisher in there, as he showed at Barcelona before his move to Chelsea.

For the Blues, it will get him off the wage bill, and allow them to further fall in line with FFP after their huge spending since Todd Boehly took over.

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