Officially official: The Age of Marko Marin draws to a close as Chelsea sell him to Olympiakos

It is my great displeasure to convey a piece of most grievous news, readers. The following words (and ellipses) are words that have plagued my worst nightmares in the previous few days, ever since the unofficial news broke.

Look at that face, will you? The face of a living myth, the face of a legend, the face of Marko Marin, the German Messi. For those of you who haven’t been fortunate enough to learn about the existence of this... this spectacle of a man, allow me to enlighten you.

Marin was signed from Werder Bremen to be our saviour and the hero we all needed and deserved when we looked set to finish a drab 6th in 2011-12. We ended up winning on that night in Munich though, and the rest is history. Unfortunately for Marko, that miracle Champions League run threw a serious spanner in the works for his Chelsea career.  The Eden Hazard contingency plan was never needed when Eden Hazard himself signed up.

Marin did wow us with some mind-blowing (might be an exaggeration) pre-season displays against the likes of Seattle Sounders but he soon fell prey to the first of his many injuries and missed the start of the season. Meanwhile, fellow new signings Hazard, Oscar and Victor Moses severely limited Marin’s chances, even when he was eventually fit again.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Marin made 16 appearances for Chelsea, most of those in Chelsea's trophy-winning run in the Europa League, and scored one goal (a diving header!), before spending the rest of his "Chelsea" career out on loan, inconceivably* deemed surplus to requirements by every manager who followed after Rafa Benitez.

*ed. note: I don't think this means what you think it means, Ram

Out of his four loan spells (to Sevilla, Fiorentina, Anderlecht and Trabzonspor), his most fruitful one came at Sevilla in 2013-14 (where he repeated as Europa League champion!) and most recently at Trabzonspor, last season. In fact, he became such a fan favourite at Sevilla that at one point, their fans wished to find him a bride in the city.

Photo by Henriques Da Cunha/EuroFootball/Getty Images

After four long years, Marin is finally moving on for good. Hopefully, he’ll find success and plenty of playing time with Olympiakos. Goodbye Marko, we’ll always have that diving header against Wigan.

What? I'm not crying, I'm just sweating from my eyes.