Another surprise Chelsea exit confirmed just days after a member of Mauricio Pochettino’s backroom left

Chelsea legend Claude Makelele has taken to X, previously known as Twitter to confirm his exit from the club just days after it was revealed that Bruno Saltor has secretly left.

The former Real Madrid and Chelsea midfield general has been back at Chelsea’s Surrey training base since 2019, working as a youth team coach amongst other roles, but as has been the case in the last twelve months with most of the employees under Roman Abramovich, Makelele revealed his time at the club has come to end.

He said in a statement on X: “After 4 fulfilling years, Chelsea & I decided, by mutual consent, that it‘s time for me to seek a fresh, new challenge.

“I do want to thank the fans for their affection. Blue will always be the colour of my heart; I’ll share more once I’ve set my mind on the next chapter.”

The French man spent five years as a player at Chelsea making 217 appearances across all competitions and winning back-to-back Premier League titles.

He was also seen as a true revolutionary to the holding midfield role and it was after him that the likes of Michael Essien, John Obi-Mikel and to a lesser extent N’Golo Kante modelled their game in west London.

He will now join the likes of Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech as high-profile exits at the club since the takeover. The Blues have struggled on the pitch to recapture the success that made them the most successful European team in London though with a lowly 12th-placed finish in the league last season and a challenging start to the new campaign where they have won only one of their first six league games.