Chelsea have confirmed the departures of Gonzalo Higuain, Gary Cahill, Rob Green, Eduardo and Kyle Scott as their respective contracts ended on Sunday.

The London club passed on their £31.3m option to purchase Gonzalo Higuain with the Argentinian now returning to Juventus, where he has two years remaining on his contract.

Higuain joined the Blues in January under the insistence of Maurizio Sarri, with the manager desperate to sign the striker who equalled the Serie A scoring record under him at Napoli, but subsequently failed to rekindle that prolific form during his time in west London.

In total, Higuain made 18 appearances for Chelsea and scored seven goals before eventually losing his place to Olivier Giroud after a streak of sluggish performances.

Higuain made his Blues bow in an FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday, and opened his account with two superbly-taken goals the following weekend against struggling Huddersfield.

But Cahill departs Stamford Bridge as a winner after seven-and-a-half years of exemplary service during which time he won eight major trophies, most famously the Champions League in 2012 when he battled injury to play and star in Munich.

Club captain for the past two years, Cahill played 291 times for the Blues and scored 25 goals.