Cesar Azpilicueta leaves Chelsea for Atletico Madrid

Cesar Azpilicueta has completed his move from Chelsea to Atletico Madrid on a free transfer.

The Spaniard had agreed personal terms with Inter and was expected to seal a switch to Serie A before Atletico made a late bid and quickly established themselves as the favourites to get a deal done.

Despite still having one year remaining on his contract, Chelsea agreed to grant Azpilicueta a free transfer as a mark of respect to their captain, whose 11-year spell at Stamford Bridge has now come to a close.

Before sealing his move, Azpilicueta posted a lengthy farewell message to Chelsea fans, vowing to return to Stamford Bridge in the future.

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Azpilicueta leaves Chelsea having won every major trophy available to him: the Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup, Super Cup, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

The versatile defender, who is primarily a right-back but has performed at a high level both on the left and in the centre, racked up an enormous 508 appearances for Chelsea, chipping in with 17 goals and a respectable 56 assists.

He sits sixth on Chelsea's all-time appearances list and played more games for the Blues than any overseas player in their history, 14 ahead of Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Azpilicueta now returns to La Liga for the first time since 2010, when he initially left Osasuna for Marseille. He sits on 99 appearances in the division and will hit his century when he makes his debut for Atletico.

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On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss Mason Mount's impending move to Man Utd, Arsenal's various deals, Liverpool's pursuit of Dominik Szoboszlai and more!

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