Michael Essien's eight-and-a-half-year spell at Chelsea is over after AC Milan signed the Ghanaian midfielder on undisclosed terms on Monday.
The 31-year-old joined the Blues from Lyon in 2005 and made 256 appearances for the club, also enjoying a season on loan with Real Madrid in 2012-13.
His first-team opportunities at Stamford Bridge had been limited in the current campaign and he has therefore now opted to pursue a career in Serie A.
Milan published a photograph of Essien posing with Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani on their official Twitter account, while Chelsea announced the deal on their official website.
Manager Jose Mourinho told his club's website: "To show Michael respect is to not stop him going.
"We would have been happy had he stayed because he is fantastic player for the team, but he's given everything for the club and a great chance arrived for his future.
"I know he can continue to play at a high level and I wish him success and happiness in Italy and at the World Cup in Brazil."
Essien was in Milan to undergo a medical on Monday and put pen to paper on a contract that will see him remain with the Rossoneri until June 2015.
A statement from AC Milan read: "AC Milan announce they have acquired Michael Essien from Chelsea. He has signed a contract until June 30, 2015."
Essien becomes Milan's third reinforcement in the winter transfer window following the arrival of Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda from CSKA Moscow and French defender Adil Rami from Valencia.
The experienced midfielder joins a side that have struggled to make an impact this season and sit ninth in the Serie A table, 28 points behind league leaders Juventus.
Milan sacked coach Massimiliano Allegri earlier this month and appointed former midfielder Clarence Seedorf as his replacement.
The Rossoneri, who were eliminated from the Coppa Italia last week, are still alive in the Champions League and will take on Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the competition next month.
Essien could make his Serie A debut in Sunday's match against Torino at San Siro.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article