French defender Eliaquim Mangala has left Manchester City to join Spanish club Valencia with the European summer transfer window still open.
Mangala, 28, originally signed for City for a fee of over £32m from Porto in 2014.
His contract was due to expire in the summer and he was expected to leave after being frozen out by Pep Guardiola having loan spells at Valencia and Everton.
But he was instead awarded a new one year contract extension as the spectre of a possible transfer ban loomed.
With that threat lifted, Mangala has been released to join Valencia and free up a foreign place in the squad.
Former captain Vincent Kompany left the club to become player-manager of Anderlecht and David Silva was declared the club captain for his forthcoming final season with Manchester City.
The departure of Mangala leaves City with three senior central defenders.
Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, and Nicolas Otamendi are bolstered by the presence of youngsters Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis with Fernandinho expected to play in defence for Guardiola’s multi-functional squad.
Manchester City escape transfer ban
Manchester City have escaped a transfer ban but were fined 370,000 Swiss Francs (£315,000) and were reprimanded after a decision was reached by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee concerning the international transfer of players under the age of 18.
The club admitted responsibility for breaches including article 19 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
The breaches arose as a result of ‘misinterpretation of the regulations in question’ which all occurred prior to December 2016.
City have been fully compliant since then and co-operated fully with the investigation.
Chelsea were banned from signing players for two transfer windows for a similar rule breach but are making an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.