Sunderland have parted company with striker Djibril Cisse after deciding not to make his season-long loan move from Marseille permanent.
The 27-year-old Frenchman scored 11 goals in 32 appearances and was second top scorer behind Kenwyne Jones.
"We wish Djibril well and thank him for his contribution to the club this season," chairman Niall Quinn told Sunderland's official website.
Sunderland narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League this season.
The Black Cats, who also parted company with manager Ricky Sbragia on Sunday, finished two points above the drop zone with north east rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough suffering relegation.
After a promising start, Cisse's strike partnership with striker partner Jones failed to gel as expected.
Sunderland had initially agreed a fee with Marseille thought to be about £10m.
However because the fee was set in euros, the weakness of the pound since meant it could have amounted to nearer £13m.
And after Cisse only found the back of the net once in his last 12 games and spent most of his time on the substitutes bench it soon became clear that he was unlikely to remain on Wearside.
Cisse, who was a member of Liverpool's Champions League-winning team in 2005, broke both legs during his time at Anfield and missed the 2006 World Cup because of the second injury.
He joined Marseille in July 2007 following a loan spell and scored 16 goals in the 2007/08 season.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?