Lucas Piazon (finally) leaves Chelsea permanently for Braga

It's the end of an era. Lucas Piazon is no longer employed by Chelsea Football Club.

The Blues fought off competition from all of Europe's biggest sides to sign a player who had drawn comparisons to Kaka in his native Brazil, with the Blues striking a £5m deal to bring Piazon over to Stamford Bridge way back in the summer of 2011.

After a spell in the reserves, Piazon made three promising appearances for Chelsea's first team, bagging two assists in three games...

But that was it for the Brazilian, who then embarked on no fewer than seven loan spells away from Chelsea.

He spent time with Malaga, Vitesse (obviously), Eintracht Frankfurt, Reading, Fulham, Chievo and Rio Ave - the last few of which were all accentuated by frequent comments from Piazon admitting he was desperate to escape the trap of the loan army once and for all.

Nine years after his first loan away from Chelsea, he's finally gone.

Braga took to their official website to confirm that they had brought Piazon in on a permanent basis, giving the 26-year-old the long-term base he has long been crying out for.

Often the poster boy for everything wrong with Chelsea's loan army, Piazon was actually the Blues' longest-serving player, having spent ten years at the club and remaining on the books nine years after making his first-team debut.

That honour has now been passed over to right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, who joined from Marseille in 2012 and recently made his 400th appearance for Chelsea. How's that for a contrast?

If we're being picky, Chelsea's longest server is actually 27-year-old goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who joined the club at Under-13 level in 2006 and has remained on the books at Stamford Bridge ever since.

Blackman was called up to the first team in 2012 but has never actually made an appearance for Chelsea, instead heading out on his own loans with *pause for breath* Middlesbrough, Ostersund, Wycombe, Sheffield United, Leeds United, Vitesse (obviously), Bristol Rovers and Rotherham United.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!