Marko Marin finally leaves Chelsea for his forever home

Chelsea signed Marko Marin from Werder Bremen in 2012. Four years, four loans, five Chelsea managers and 16 Chelsea appearances later, Marin signed a permanent transfer to Olympiakos.

Marko Marin was Chelsea’s forgotten man among forgotten men. For as much energy as we put into criticizing Chelsea’s signing and loan policy, and offering cautionary tales of careers Chelsea has ruined, even we forgot Marko Marin.

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Chelsea finally ended Marko Marin’s pointless tenure with the club by selling him to Olympiakos. Roberto di Matteo brought Marin to Stamford Bridge, at a time when people touted the Yugoslavia-born German-national as the “German Messi.” Upon joining Marin said “I had good talks with di Matteo and I hope he stays.”

Well, we all know how that worked out. Marin saw limited playing time under di Matteo and then Rafael Benitez.

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At the end of the 2012 season, Chelsea announced that Marin would spend the upcoming season at Sevilla in La Liga. Thus began Marin’s tour of Europe. Over the next three seasons Marin would play at Fiorentina (where he did not make a single Serie A appearance), Anderlecht and Trabsponzor.

Marko Marin never had a shot of playing at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho. As early as 2014, Bleacher Report predicted that he would never play another game for Chelsea. Mourinho all but announced his fate in one of those not-so-subtle “pack your bags” interviews.

"We do need one player to leave because we have 18 foreign players and you can only have 17. We must make that decision between me, the board and the player involved. It will be a tough one because our squad is stable. It has the right numbers. – Chelsea FC"

Mourinho’s decision was surely not “a tough one.” If you’re a foreign player who spent the previous season on loan and only mustered 16 appearances before that, you know exactly what this means.

Marin ranked no higher than fifth in Mourinho’s midfield depth chart. Most of the players in front of him on that list are no longer with the Blues, either. Marin’s nominal squad-mates included Andre Schurrle (gone), Mohamed Salah (gone), Christian Atsu (loaned), Victor Moses (gone, back, maybe to stay?), Eden Hazard and Willian.

Well at least those last two worked out.

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Marin is now 27 years old and, despite making his first appearance for Germany at age 19, has not been capped since 2010. To repeat a common refrain, we hope Marin’s nonsensical time at Chelsea merely delayed his potential rather than inflicting any long-term damage. At Olympiakos, Marin at least has a chance of earning a regular post in the starting XI. He will also likely have the stability of not being loaned to a new club every year.