Chelsea’s longest serving player Lucas Piazon finally set for transfer exit… EIGHT years after last game

LUCAS PIAZON is finally set to leave Chelsea, eight years after his last appearance for the Blues.

Following three first-team outings, seven loan spells and a broken leg, Piazon will finally have his Blues contract terminated to seal a permanent move elsewhere after 10 years at the club.

The Brazilian, now 26, has spent 18 months on loan at Portuguese side Rio Ave but that temporary deal is now set to be terminated, with three side keen to sign him.

Piazon arrived in West London as a fresh faced teenager from Sao Paolo in 2011.

He swiftly impressed within Cobham’s fabled youth set-up, breaking into Chelsea’s first-team set up less than a year later, under Andre Villas-Boas.

After two sightings on the Blues’ bench during that first season, he made his debut in September 2012 aged 18, starting a 6-0 League Cup romp over Wolves and even assisting a goal for Ryan Bertrand.

An appearance in the next round against Manchester United followed, as did a Premier League debut that December in an 8-0 win over Aston Villa, with things looking promising for the attacking midfielder.

But upon signing for Malaga on loan in January 2013, Piazon would never feature for Chelsea again.

After 14 goalless appearances for the LaLiga side, Piazon was soon walking the well-trodden path from Chelsea to Vitesse.

He bagged 11 goals and eight assists in 31 appearances for Eredivisie side, but that wasn’t enough to get him back in the Blues’ plans.

A year in German football followed with Eintracht Frankfurt before he found himself playing in West London again… for Fulham – via a season at Reading.

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In two seasons on loan at Craven Cottage, Piazon performed well, helping Slavisa Jokanovic’s side to promotion to the Premier League.

In the first half of the 2018-19 season Piazon returned to Chelsea, and remarkably was included on Maurizio Sarri’s bench for the League Cup semi-final second leg triumph against Tottenham Hotspur – before being loaned to Chievo just a week later.

He appears to have finally settled at Rio Ave, however, having spent the last 18 months on loan at the Liga NOS strugglers.

Perhaps, now that he has finally fled the Chelsea stable for good, Piazon can deliver on some of his early-career promise.