Malouda among free transfers

Aberdeen have confirmed midfielder Stephen Hughes has been released from his contract 12 months early.

The former Rangers player joined the Dons from Motherwell on a two-and-a-half-year deal last January that would have kept him at the club until the summer of 2014.

But the 30-year-old is now free to discuss a move elsewhere after new Pittodrie manager Derek McInnes deemed him surplus to requirements.

An Aberdeen spokesman said: "The club can confirm that Stephen Hughes has been released from his contract with the Dons and is free to sign for another club.

"Everyone at Aberdeen wishes Stephen all the very best in his future career."

Hughes made 27 appearances for the Dons last season but is the eighth player to be culled from McInnes' group already this summer.

The former St Johnstone and Bristol City boss has already released seven out-of-contract players on top of telling Hughes and Jordon Brown to find new clubs.

Brown was handed a deal until 2015 by former manager and namesake Craig Brown last October but his successor has told the 20-year-old, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Forfar, he is also not part of his plans.

A severance agreement with the Reds youth team graduate has still to be reached but Rory Fallon, Mitch Megginson, Rob Milsom, Gary Naysmith, Isaac Osbourne, Gavin Rae - who has joined Dundee - and Dan Twardzik have all left Pittodrie after the expiration of their contracts.

McInnes has moved to bolster his squad, however, with the capture of former Celtic midfielders Willo Flood and Barry Robson.

Malouda, 32, last played for Chelsea in their 2012 Champions League final win over Bayern Munich, but has since been frozen out of the first-team picture and so saw out the remaining season of his ?80,000-a-week contract training with the club's Under-21s.

Lyon, who sold him to Chelsea for ?13million in 2007, looks the most likely destination for France international.

Defender Gallas leaves Tottenham on a free transfer after three seasons since joining from north London rivals Arsenal, and midfielder David Bentley, who spent time on loan in Russia with FK Rostov and at former side Blackburn last season, is another set to move on.

Santa Cruz, 31, was loaned out to Malaga last season, where he played under Manuel Pellegrini, who is reported to be in line to take over at Manchester City.

Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure, meanwhile, will not feature in City's future plans for their new manage, with his move to Liverpool at the end of his contract confirmed last month.

Full-back Wayne Bridge is to join Reading.

Schwarzer, who had been linked with a switch to Arsenal in the past, turned down the offer of a new deal at Fulham, and so will move on.

Arsenal announced earlier this week that Andrey Arshavin, Denilson and Sebastien Squillaci would all be leaving this summer, which was confirmed on the Premier League list on Friday.

Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun and Portugal defender Paulo Ferreira have both been released by Chelsea.

Long-throw specialist Rory Delap departs Stoke along with retiring ex-England striker Michael Owen, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Upson and Dean Whitehead.

Relegated Wigan, QPR and Reading, meanwhile, all announced the expected several free transfers as they prepare for life in the Championship.

Full free transfer list:

ARSENAL

Andrey Arshavin

Samir Bihmoutine

Reice Charles-Cook

Denilson

Craig Eastmond

Sead Hajrovic

Conor Henderson

Jernade Meade

Nigel Oldfield Spence-Neita

Joshua Rees

Philip Roberts

James Shea

Sebastien Squillaci

Sanchez Watt

ASTON VILLA

Calum Barrett

Josh Barton

Courtney Cameron

Daniel Devine

Eric Lichaj

Andy Marshall

CHELSEA

Amin Affane

Yossi Benayoun

Abdul Deen-Conteh

Paulo Ferreira

Hilario

Florent Malouda

Archange Nkumu

Ross Turnbull

EVERTON

Per Hammar

Thomas Hitzlsperger

Sam Kelly

Jan Mucha

Phil Neville

FULHAM

Chris Baird

Simon Davies

Mahamadou Diarra

Thomas Donegan

Corey Gameiro

Georgios Karagkounis

James Musa

Richard Peniket

Mladen Petric

Mark Schwarzer

Alex Smith

Csaba Somogyi

LIVERPOOL

Tyrell Belford

Jamie Carragher

James Stephens

Danny Wilson

MANCHESTER CITY

Wayne Bridge

Filippo Mancini

Ryan McGivern

Roque Santa Cruaz

Kolo Toure

MANCHESTER UNITED

Reece Brown

John Cofie

Michele Fornasier

Luke Giverin

Luke Hendrie

Luke McCullough

Paul Scholes

Gyliano Van Velzen

Frederic Veseli

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Steve Harper

Yven Moyo

Danny Simpson

NORWICH CITY

Tom Adeyemi

Lee Camp

Olumide Durojaiye

George Francomb

Simeon Jackson

Chris Martin

Ramil Sheriff

Korey Smith

Marc Tierney

Elliott Ward

QPR

Tan Ben Haim

DJ Campbell

Radek Cerny

Frederick Champion

Adam Francis

Try Hewitt

Rob Hulse

Ryan Nelsen

Taylor Louis Parmenter

Tommaso Trani

READING

Nick Bignall

Simon

Ian Harte

Noel Hunt

Charlie Losasso

Angus MacDonald

Alex Pearce

Nicky Shorey

Jay Tabb

Joshua Webb

Brett Williams

SOUTHAMPTON

Danny Butterfield

Ryan Dickson

Tommy Forecast

Sam Hoskins

Ben Reeves

Frazer Richardson

Daniel Seaborne

Alberto Seidi

STOKE CITY

Michael Clarkson

Rory Delap

Matthew Gledhill

Jadan Hall

Matthew Lund

Andrew Musungu

Carlo Nash

Michael Owen

Jermaine Pennant

George Rigg

Mamady Sidibe

Matthew Upson

Dean Whitehead

SUNDERLAND

Titus Bramble

Anthony Callaghan

Wade Joyce

Matthew Kilgallon

Ryan Noble

Adam Reed

Ben Wilson

TOTTENHAM

Jack Barthram

Patrick

David Bentley

John Bostock

William Gallas

Jack Munns

Jake Nicholson

WEST BROM

Marc-Antoine Fortune

Zoltan Gera

Gonzalo Jara Reyes

Romaine Sawyers

Jerome Thomas

WEST HAM

Carlton Cole

Jake Larkins

Gary O'Neil

Jack Powell

Jami Rafati

Eoin Wearen

WIGAN ATHLETIC

Peter Aylmer

Albert Crusat

Franco Di Santo

David Jones

Piscu

Jonathan Lynch

Callum Morris

Filip Orsula

Ronnie Stam

Joshua Sumner

Ryan Watson