Patrick van Aanholt spoke with the press recently, and in doing so, has confirmed that his future lies away from Stamford Bridge. He doesn't confirm where he'll be going next season, but makes it quite clear that his time at Chelsea has come to a close.

Van Aanholt made several first team appearances before starting on a whole string of loan spells with varying degrees of success. At times, the Dutch fullback looked like a future starter for the Blues. At others, he looked like a player who probably couldn't cut it in one of the top leagues in Europe.

Chelsea nearly sold the player last summer, but after intervention from Vitesse Arnhem, decided to keep him on the books and send him back to our 'B side'. He played very well for the first 2/3 of the season, and while his form tapered off as the season wore on, he certainly played well enough that his value didn't decrease. It will be interesting to see where he ends up, but wherever it is, I think the bulk of us will be wishing him nothing but success.