Joey Barton, the disgraced Queens Park Rangers midfielder, is the subject of interest from French club Marseille.
Barton was stripped of the Rs captaincy and fined six weeks wages after he was banned for 12 matches and fined £75,000 by the Football Association following his conduct in the club's last Premier League game of the season.
The former Newcastle United midfielder lashed out at Carlos Tévez to get himself sent off before kicking out at Sergio Agüero and attempting to engage in a tussle with Mario Balotelli while QPR were 2-1 up.
They eventually lost 3-2 to the Citizens but were not relegated by virtue of Bolton Wanderers' failure to beat Stoke City.
An avid user of Twitter, Barton reacted to news he had not been given a squad number by QPR before cryptically signing off for the evening.
Barton's number 17 shirt has been handed to defensive signing Ryan Nelsen ahead of the start of the new campaign, with Mark Hughes' side taking on Swansea City at Loftus Road on Saturday.
League Two side Fleetwood Town accommodated the Manchester City youth product for pre-season training however the possibility of him joining the club on loan would have been scuppered by the Football League.
Last season Joe Cole played on loan for northern French side Lille in Ligue 1 before returning to parent club Liverpool this summer.
Perhaps the most distinguished English footballers to have played across the Channel are Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle.
Hoddle won the league and French Cup during four years with Monaco between 1987 and 1991 while Waddle won three titles and was a European Cup finalist with Marseille during three years with the 1993 European Cup winners.