Chelsea midfielder Marko Marin looks set to leave the West London club and return to Germany, with Eintracht Frankfurt leading the race for his signature. The Hesse-based club are thought to be readying a £4m bid for his services, a move that would see him reunited with the manager he left for Roberto di Matteo back in 2012.
Marin, who was born in Yugoslavia, but plays his international football for the German national team, spent the 2013-14 season with Sevilla, where he helped Los Rojiblancos to the Europa League trophy after a thrilling penalty shoot-out. He was restricted to a lesser role at Sevilla, however, as the form of Ivan Rakitić and other midfielders was enough to keep him out of the team. He played in 28 matches in total for Sevilla, 15 of them from the bench, not scoring a single goal, but setting up six for his team-mates.
Marin's move to Chelsea in 2012 was greeted with positivity from the Chelsea fans, although two years and three managers later, he has only made six appearances in the Premier League, scoring just a single goal. With Chelsea constantly strengthening their midfield, it seems that Marko Marin will be the second German midfielder leaving under José Mourinho's new Chelsea era, with Kevin de Bruyne leaving for VfL Wolfsburg in an £18m deal back in January.
Should Marin make the switch, he won't be returning to unfamiliar surroundings, having spent nine years with Die Adler as a youngster, before moving on to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Werder Bremen.
This is not the first transfer activity from Frankfurt in this window so far, having brought in Timothy Chandler and Makoto Hasebe from Nürnberg, who were relegated from the Bundesliga last season, as well as Aleksandar Ignjovski, who comes in from Werder Bremen. There have been several major departures from the club also, with Sebastian Rode, Pirmin Schwegler and Sebastian Jung joining Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg respectively. A deal for Nicklas Bendtner is also close, with the Arsenal striker's contract expiring on Monday.